


the ability to live

by FadingClockworkAngle



Category: The Maze Runner (Movies), The Maze Runner Series - All Media Types, The Maze Runner Series - James Dashner
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Implied/ Referenced Suicide Attempt, Multi, Slow Build, everyone is oblivious, everyone ships it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-29
Updated: 2016-06-03
Packaged: 2018-04-06 17:55:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 24,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4231275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FadingClockworkAngle/pseuds/FadingClockworkAngle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sonya and Harriet control liquid, Minho can run faster than sound, Thomas is a genius, Newt can fly, and Aris and Teresa are telepathic. No one is normal. But that will either change their lives for the better or the worst.</p><p>or</p><p>The gladers have superhuman abilities that draw them together</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. prolouge

The two girls were brought to the school due to the fact their older siblings had a parent teacher conference that day. Seeing as though they had no chance of getting a babysitter and they were each too young to be in school, they were brought here. What drew them to the science room was a mystery.

The younger of the girls found herself watching the other in interest. Harriet was swirling her hand in the air, the liquid from a beaker following the movements of her hand. 

“How are you doing that?” The liquid fell in a puddle, Harriet’s concentration broken. After a minute of staring at the face covered by blond hair, she waved her over.

“Let me show you. Take your hand like this…” She moved the younger girls hand around till she memorized the movements. “Now just close your eyes, and believe.” She watched as the young girl closed her eyes, only opening them when she heard a gasp. Around her hand was green liquid, flowing out of the beaker and around her hand.

“I never met another person who could do it.” Harriet’s eyes were wide open, hands going through her short hair. The younger girl gently splashed the other in the face with the liquid.

“My names Sonya.”

“Harriet.”

No one knew what to think when they entered a damp room, the only occupants being two laughing girls on the floor, equally wet.

\--------------------------------------------------------------  
It had been a relatively calm day until the young teacher found two boys screaming at each other at the top of their lungs. One had a box of crayons in his hands while the other was desperately grasping for them. She sighed before running to stop the fight.

“Calm down, boys! Just tell me what’s going on.” Their wasn’t even a second till the taller boy spoke up.

“Nick stole my crayons!”

“I did not! They is mine!”

The teacher sighed, trying to remember why she had taken the job of a kindergarten teacher, before speaking up. “Gally, we’ve talked about lying before, and-”

“I’m not lying!”

“He is!”

“I am not!”

“Gally-”

“You never believe me! It not fair!” With that, Gally grabbed onto the teachers desk, and flung it into the wall. The entire class fled, screaming the entire way out. By the end of the day, school was canceled for the rest of the week, the entire thing was described as a hallucination, and the school was in need of a new teacher. 

They never did explain the desk shaped hole in the wall.

\---------------------------------------------------------------

“It’s mine!” 

“Never gonna happen, shuck face!”

The house was free of parents, so Brenda had decided to spend the day with her friend, Minho. After spending the day at the park, playing with a toy airplane, they now sat at the table, fighting over the last piece of cake. The argument had lasted for five minutes already.

“You know what, come outside. We’ll settle it out there.” Brenda dragged Minho out, then pointed in the direction of the park. “We left the plane there. You get it back to me in ten seconds, cake’s yours.”

“But the parks like, five miles away!”

“Eight.”

“Come on, B! This isn’t fair!”

“Five.”

Minho turned, and seemed to focus, staring at the park. After two seconds, he took off. Brenda stared in shock at the trail of smoke following the boy. In two seconds flat, he managed to run the ten miles there and back, find the plane, and put it in Brenda’s hand, all with a second to spare.

Minho smile in triumph. “Cake’s mine.”

Brenda didn’t bother fighting, trying to figure out how to tell her friend he just did the impossible.

\----------------------------------------------------------

‘This is nice.’

‘Yeah.’

Teresa and Aris had been friends the second they met. They were so close, everyone joked they had the ability to read each others minds. What they didn’t realize, was that it wasn’t exactly a joke.

They were at Aris’ house, doing their favorite activity. They had turned off the lights, locked the doors, and were now lying side by side on the bed.

‘Promise never to do this with someone else.’

‘Why would I?”

They took time focusing on the little stars glued on the ceiling, moving them with nothing but their minds, causing them to twirl and dance on the ceiling. Every star they moved would glow as it moved, casting a light show above the two laughing friends, talking without breaking the silence.

It wasn’t till fifth grade they realized this wasn’t normal.

\------------------------------------------------------------

It was dark outside, not a person to be seen. With it being the dead of night, no one noticed the ten year old boy walking to the bridge, tears streaming down his face. 

Newt knew tonight was the night. It just felt right. He had already lost his sister in a car crash, his dog had been put down, his parents forgetting they loved him, that he wasn’t just some guest they had to please. He just didn’t want to lose anything more.

Once he got to the bridge, he stopped to turn up his music. Newt slowly climbed up the bridge, staring at the dark abyss below him. Not wanting to let his mind change, he let his body go limp, falling towards the ground, and away from his pain.

He heard the sound of his leg shattering as he landed, feeling horrible pain. Newt opened his eyes, confused as to how he was feeling the pain, instead of feeling his life fade from him. 

The bridge hovered below him, the spot where he landed all but a speck of land. He was about fifty feet off the ground, hovering in place. The pain filling his mind, Newt slowly was lowered to the ground, nothing but wind supporting him.

The last thing Newt remembered before blacking out was the feeling of self hatred. Of all times to learn he could bloody fly, he had to choose now.

“I can’t even kill myself right,” he whispered before he was covered in the darkness.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------

The young women had only left for twenty minutes, going to get some food for her son. She hurried, feeling worried about leaving him alone, even if he was nine. She ran in, only to find the house empty. 

A feeling of worry filled her mind. She ran, hopping to find him in his favorite place. Sure enough, She heard murmuring coming from the other side of the garage door. She sighed and opened the door.

“Honey, I’m ho-” She cut herself off, staring in astonishment. “Oh my god.”

The entire room was covered with chalkboards that she didn’t even know they had. Each board was covered by equations, problems that would take a group geniuses such as Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, and Isaac Newton twenty years to figure out. And somehow she knew there wasn’t a single mistake.

Except it hadn’t been twenty years. It had been twenty minutes. It had not been a group. It was all one person. And it was one of the most famous scientist of all time.

She ran forward to the middle of the room, where her son sat as a murmuring mess, covering another board with what looked like the diagram of a futuristic computer screen with the diagram of a maze on it. She wrapped her arms around the young boy, burying her face in his brown hair.

“It’s going to be okay Thomas. I promise you that, okay?” He looked at her with intelligent eyes.

“You can’t control the set of events that have been set in motion, for no sequence of events can’t be perfectly predicted until it has been seen several times, which this hasn’t.”

She cried.


	2. Chapter 2

It was their last year of elementary school when their world began to change. They had never grown apart, in fact, they had only grown closer and closer together. That is, until it was time for testing.

The young teacher looked up, shaking her head worriedly. “I am just going to ask this point blank: who cheated.” The two eleven year-olds looked at her in confusion. “I am going to ask you this only one more time. Who cheated?” It was Aris who broke the silence.

“Miss, we didn’t mean to put the same answers. It’s just hard to keep the thoughts silent and-” 

She cut him off. “Aris, you’re speaking nonsense. It’s my guess you copied Ms. Agens paper. Or are you covering for her?” The two looked at her, jaws on the ground.

“He didn’t copy my paper, nor did I copy his. We were just hearing each other. It’s hard to not think out loud but I promise we will try harder.” The teacher looked at the students before sighing. She moved over to look them in the eye before saying the two sentences that changed their entire reality.

“Listen to me, alright? No one, no matter how much you wish you could, can read minds.” 

That night, Teresa was woken up to the worst news she had ever heard. All it was was a simple message, just two words long.

‘I’m moving.’

Teresa didn’t hear from Aris again.  
\-----------------------------------------------------------  
“Another success!”

“You were almost caught by the police, where you were surely going to be locked up or something, are bleeding, and you now have a pet cat.”

“As I said, a success!”

Brenda shook her head, holding back a laugh. After Minho finally realized he had superpowers, their life had been amazing. And filled with pranks. Brenda would create the plans while Minho would use his super speed to accomplish them. He usually liked to bring back a few ‘souvenirs’. Normally, it was just a picture or some hair product. But this time he had gone to far.

“You have a cat.” He gave her a deadpanned look while he pet the creature in his arms.

“Yes, and you’re a girl. I don’t see what the problem is, it needed a home, and mom always wanted a cat. So what’s you’re problem?”  
“You were almost caught. You know what would happen if they knew. I’m concerned.” She gestured to the cat. “And you got a cat.”

“Shut up about the cat.” Minho sped around the room, creating a bed for the cat in a split second. “I am keeping it,” he said, plopping down on the couch.

Brenda plopped down next to him. “Only if you’re serious.” He nodded and they sat in silence for almost a full minute.

“So that new girl, Teresa, is pretty hot.” Before she could process what he said, he had sped off laughing, cat in hand. 

“Minho!”  
\--------------------------------------------------------------  
Throwing the desk through the wall was not the last time Gally’s super strength was triggered due to his anger. No one dared to anger him, fearing his wrath. There were many advantages to being the person people feared. At Least, that's what everyone said.

After the kindergarten incident, Gally had been left friendless. He had to do his best to keep up his secret, but sometimes it didn't work. Luckily, no one would believe them, but it was still worrying. His only break was caused by one of these outbreaks.

He had once more been in an argument with Nick, whom he had been enemies with ever since the desk incident. Once Nick stormed out of the room, Gally had grabbed the nearest item, being an encyclopedia, and launched it across the room with enough force for it to blow off the storage room’s door. He turned to find a blond staring at him, eyes wide.

“I swear, it’s not what you-” Gally was cut off by the boy in front of him.

“Dude! How did you do that!” Surprised by the boy’s tone of excitement, Gally just stood there, staring like an idiot. The other boy walked forward and stretched out a hand.

“Name’s Ben.” After helping him fix the door, Ben was by his side for the rest of the day, refusing to let him out of his sight.

No one even questioned the fact that the literature room was now covered by bits of encyclopedia.

\-------------------------------------------------------------  
“Sonya!” 

Sonya laughed at the look of shock that had covered Harriet's face, now covered in soda. Ever since they had discovered their abilities, the two girls had become inseparable. They had spent every free moment by the water, growing their abilities, and it been normal to find them together, at least one of them soaking wet.

Harriet shook her head, before making all the liquid fly off her, and onto Sonya. She faked a look of betrayal, before causing the water from the pool to surround her, Harriet’s laughing dying almost immediately. 

“Sonya, you don’t have to do this. Okay, just put the water down, and we will just go back to lunch. Sonya tilted her head, pretending to consider her options. Then she faked a guilty expression, nodding slowly.

“Alright, I’ll just put the water back.”

“Thank y-” She cut herself off, yelping in surprise as the water pulled her in with it. She swam back up, glaring at Sonya as she laughed. “Why did I teach you to control liquid?” 

“Because you love me. Sorry must have slipped.” She didn’t even bother trying to hide her laughter, making some water splash on Harriet's face.

She wasn’t the smallest bit surprised when she was pulled in, embracing her friend in a hug.

\-------------------------------------------------------------

“I hate you! Just get out!”

“Well if you hate me so much why don’t you just head back to Europe!”

“Why don’t you just mind your own bloody business.”

Newt felt like ramming his head into a wall until he fell into a concussion. Ever since that night at the bridge, his life had only gotten worse and worse. His parents only grew further away from him, not wanting to claim that he was their son. No one had wanted to even talk to him, not even to bully the kid with the weird limp. Instead they settled for ignoring him, which was, in it’s own way, worse. 

Just to make it worse, he couldn’t do anything to stop his pain due to his powers. His family had decided to move to America, claiming it was for a change in scenery. Newt knew though, that it was because they hoped moving would make him normal. Which led him to where he was now.

Ever since he had moved here, his neighbor, Alby, had taken a hating towards him. Newt didn’t know why they were in his garage, only that he really wished he would get out.

“Why do you hate me so much? Ever since you moved here, it’s just been glaring and screaming.”

“Why do I hate you? You’re the one that hates me!” 

He waited for a response, for Alby to yell something at him. But instead all he got was staring.

“Well? Are you even gonna defend yourself? Stop staring at me!” It wasn’t until he jerked his hand forward that he noticed what it was. A pot went flying to the floor, cutting his shoulder in the process. With a feeling of dread, Newt looked around to find that not only were items flying in the air, but he himself was six inches off the ground.

Newt slowly looked up to see Alby staring at him, eyebrow raised. “You’ve got alot of explaining to do, Greenie. And I ain’t leaving your side till you do.”

Newt sighed, wishing he had crashed his head into the wall when he had the chance.

\---------------------------------------------------------------  
While her son had an intelligence level higher than anyone else she knew combined, at times he could be the biggest idiot on earth.

She had just picked Thomas up from his ninth school, trying to figure out how to explain to him what he had done wrong. Due to being a genius, he had so much curiosity, that he always seemed to find new ways to get into trouble. 

This time he had been expelled due to the fact he had taken apart the entire fire alarm system of the school, rearranged it to where all the alarms were in his science teachers room, and set them all of at once. The reason why. He had gotten soundwaves mixed up with light waves, so Thomas wanted him to realize the difference through experience.

She sighed before turning over. “Thomas, you can’t keep doing this.” 

“Why not? No one can think at the same level as me anyway, so why do I have to be part of that stupid school? They don’t even teach them what they need to know, so why bother?” 

She sighed, reminding herself of why her son’s intelligence was a good thing. He had managed to skip a grade, despite always being expelled. He also had helped her study for her night classes, seeing as her teaching career had become undesirable due to students claiming to have powers like her son’s. 

But being a genius had it’s drawbacks.

 

“Mom?”

“Yes, Thomas.”

“Why can’t I have any friends? I mean… I’m fifteen now. So why have I never found someone who likes me?” She stopped the car at turned to face her son, eyes far and distant.

“Listen to me. By the end of the upcoming school year, you will find a group of people that loves you. Maybe even someone who loves you. I don’t know how, I don’t know when, but you will. I promise.” Then Thomas did something he hadn’t done in six years.

He hugged her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to those of you who left kudos, bookmarked, and/or commented on this. Please let me know what you thought.


	3. Chapter 3

The school seemed to tower over him as though it were screaming this was where he would find his doom. There was already many students walking around, talking about meaningless and stupid things.

Thomas stood by himself, wishing he wasn’t so alone. But at the same time he dreaded the moment he would have to talk to someone. While some might say his intelligence was a gift they wish they had, all it seemed to do was bring Thomas trouble. He was never able to interact with others normally, and had a feeling he never would.

He thought back to what his mother had said at the beginning of his summer. He remembered how she promised him he wasn’t alone, how he would find a way to fit in. He remembered how they had hugged, something that they never did anymore.

Keeping that in mind, he slowly made his way to the school, making sure to avoid eye contact.

Suddenly, he smacked into the walls, with almost enough force to break his arm.

“Welcome to MAZE high, freak.” Thomas watched as the blond haired teen walked by, glaring at him with a look of knowing.

Thomas let out a breath, before slowly getting up to find his locker, head held high. There wasn’t a second he wasn’t imagining different scenarios where the bully was humiliated.

What they didn’t know wouldn’t hurt them… except in Thomas’ mind of course.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------  
“Why are there so many newbies this year?”

Gally shook his head, not knowing the answer to Ben’s question. They lived in a small town called Glade, where getting a new member of the community was rare. Suddenly, they had three new students. Something wasn’t right.

He and Ben were currently checking out the new kids, though every time Gally felt his eyes go back to a brown haired boy, who looked to be one or two years younger than him. There was something about him that unnerved him, as though he knew him from somewhere.

“Any progress about figuring out why you have your talent?” 

“No luck.” Gally refused to look away from the teenager. “But something tells me my lucks about to change.” Gally suddenly stood up and started walking to the school. He didn’t have to look to know Ben was following him.

As he walked he made sure to crash into the boy, sending him into the wall. “Welcome to MAZE high, freak.” He walked away, sending a glare over his shoulder.

“I don’t trust that one. Keep an eye on him.” Ben looked confused, but knew better than to ask why.

Ben started talking about random things at their lockers when Gally realized. While he might have been several years younger in the photo, it was definitely him. He slammed the locker shut, leaving a dent he hopped no one would notice. At the moment, he was freaking out.

Because the kid outside was the son of his kindergarten teacher.  
\------------------------------------------------------------  
“Put down your stupid cat, we gotta go, we’re gonna be late!”

“Griever's not stupid! And don’t worry, princess. We won’t be late.”

Taking care to put his cat down, Minho turned around, signature smirk on his face. Brenda felt her eye’s widen, and she started shaking her head frantically.

“Don’t you-” Before she could even finish, she was suddenly at the school, Minho’s arms wrapped around her. “Dare. You idiot! How many times have I told you not to superspeed me here!”

Minho was too busy laughing to answer, dropping her on the ground. She had to hold back the urge to throw up, as she always had to when he did this. Minho stood up straight, still laughing.

“Whatever, I’m gonna go talk to Alby, see you princess.” He walked off, leaving Brenda by herself. She shook her head, before turning around, promptly crashing into another girl with dark hair and blue eyes.

“Sorry. Wait, are you new?”

“Yeah, uh sorry for running into you… literally.” Brenda was confused, seeing as they never had new students here.

“It’s alright. My name’s Brenda.” The girl stared at her weird, as though this was wrong. “Sorry, we just don’t get new student’s… ever.”

“Well, I just have something I’ve got to take care of. Nice meeting you Brenda.”

It wasn’t till second period that Brenda realized she never got her name.

\---------------------------------------------------------------  
Newt walked into the school, head hung low. He didn’t want to meet new people, in fear of someone else realizing his secret. Or worse,for them to get attached to a broken soul.

As he walked in, he accidentally bumped into another kid, who seemed just as lost as him. He looked like he was about a year younger than him. They each muttered a quick ‘sorry’ before continuing on.

He eventually tracked down Alby, which was good since he probable would of freaked out if Newt hadn’t. He was talking to some Asian kid, who was bouncing up and down as though he had way too much caffeine. Alby spotted Newt and quickly made his way over, thankfully alone.

“Who was that?”

“Just Minho, my friend that doesn’t try to make bowling balls fly into my head.”

“First off, that’s because he can’t do that, but trust me, if he could, he wouldn’t hesitate.”

“Great friend you are.” They made their way into a classroom, where Newt was automatically splashed in the face with some liquid. He ignored both Alby’s laughter and the two girl’s trying to apologize.

“Second, I’m not your friend. That would be implying I actually liked you.”

“Shut up, you love having me as a neighbor. You need someone to keep you in check anyway.”

“And you need to be punched in the face.”

They continued on like this, unaware they were being watched by the same boy Newt had crashed into just minutes ago.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------  
Sonya couldn’t be more excited for this school year. Not only did she and Harriet have all their classes together, but they had sience in the very room they had met in.

She and Harriet got there early, so played with the water from their water bottles.

“Did you hear about the new students?” Sonya looked up in surprise. One new student was weird enough, but multiple students? Never happened.

“Students? Are they related?” 

“No, they are strangers. It’s weird.” Sonya tossed the bottle, but missed, hitting one of the new students in the face instead. His friend laughed, and he ignored the girls, talking to his friend some more.

“Wait, we’ve got a Brit?”

Harriet fake gasped, and they both started laughing, despite the fact nothing actually funny had happened. Harriet suddenly got a confused look on her face.

“Sonya, you know you’re friend Aris.”

“Yeah, why?”

“Why is he talking to the new girl?” Sonya flipped around, and sure enough, a black haired girl was talking to Aris, who looked like he was talking to a ghost.

“I don’t know.”

\-------------------------------------------------------  
Aris’ life had been pretty bland after he lost Teresa. He soon enough found out his teacher was right. He and Teresa were special. And now he was alone.

The only person he had allowed himself to be friends with in the five years since he moved was Sonya, who he didn’t know that well. He missed the pain in his head he would get when he talked or how it would feel sitting on the bed, watching the little stars on his ceiling.

But that didn’t mean he was ready for Teresa to suddenly show up.

It had been pretty normal that day, except for the fact there were new people, which hadn't happened since he moved. But he ignored it, not wanting anything to do with that whole mess. 

Apparently, he didn’t get a choice. He was in science when he heard it.

‘Hey Aris.’

Aris flipped around, met with the sight of his old friend. She had changed, hair longer, definitely taller, and more. But one look in her eyes proved it was here. “Teresa.”

‘We need to talk.’

‘About what?’ She smiled when he thought back, before sitting down next to him.

‘I think I know why we’re different.’

‘Why?’

‘Have you ever heard of the Flare?’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the great response! I've never gotten this good feedback on... well anything I've written. It really means alot. Remember to let me now what you thought and I'll be sure update soon.


	4. Chapter 4

Although they had been in this position countless times before, it all felt strange and foreign. The day had passed by in the blink of an eye, classes seeming to have no meaning.

Aris didn’t even question it when Teresa followed him to his house, neither of them saying a word. It had been an hour since school ended, yet a word had yet to be spoken or thought.They were currently lying side by side on his bed, the lights off, just as they used to do five years ago.

‘What’s the flare?’ Teresa seemed to be glad Aris had asked her, and relaxed a bit.

‘It’s a long story.’

‘We’ve got plenty of time. There is no way I’m going to have you track me down after five years just to not say anything.’ Teresa sighed, but Aris knew she had been expecting that answer.

‘Fifteen years ago there were these… trials, I guess. I don’t really know what they were trying to accomplish. But one of their workers, some Janson guy, was a bit crazy. He started using random people, innocents. He was fired, but the virus he gave them was already there. 

Most of them died. A few lived, though. They were said to develop powers, to be different. Like us.’

‘And then?’

‘Nothing. They fell off the grid. Every last one of them.’

After that it was quiet, not a single one of them making a single noise. 

“I don’t think we're alone,” Teresa said, startling Aris by the sudden noise. 

She ignored his surprise, and moved a star on his ceiling.

\------------------------------------------------------  
The two girls sat in the library, talking under their breath. No one even seemed to question their presence any more. 

They were supposed to be doing some research for history, but had somehow wound up on the topic of the new students. After their encounter with the blonde and failed attempt to get Aris to speak about the girl, their curiosity had grown like crazy.

“Are you sure they don’t know each other? Maybe they were old friends or-”

“Sonya, they don’t. They just showed up.” Sonya stared at the history book in front of her, as though it would give her the answers to the universe. Suddenly, the book flew across the table as someone smacked into it.

“Sorry about that.” A blond haired boy stood up, not bothering to move the book back. “Gally tends to have a temper-”

“Ben!”

“See what I get to deal with.” He faltered when the other teen smashed his hand into the table. With that, the two girls were suddenly alone.

“What just happened?”

Harriet just shrugged, and they went back to studying, not noticing the fist shaped imprint on their table.

\-------------------------------------------------------------  
Thomas stared at the school, not wanting to go in after yesterday. Within the time first period had begun, he had been thrown into the wall, made an enemy, and ran into a blond at least twice.

To say Thomas was dreading this was an understatement.

He had been there for a short amount of time when someone ran into him. Again.

He turned to see an Asian with a glint in his eyes that screamed trouble. Thomas knew he hadn’t been there thirty seconds ago.

“Sorry ‘bout that, I left the house with, like, five minuter till school.” The Asian’s eyes suddenly widened before narrowing in confusion. “Wait a minute, who the hell are you?”

Of course, Thomas had a thousand questions running through his head. The only thing he was able to say though, was “But the nearest house is two miles away. And it still is five minutes till school.”

The other guy rolled his eyes. “Whatever. Wait, how did you know that? Anyway, who are you?”

“Thomas. I’m new.” Thomas spoke slowly, feeling efficiently confused.

With that, the bell rang. Thomas found himself being dragged in the school by the other guy, whose arm was around his shoulder.

“Good to Meet ya, Thomas. I’m Minho. How about you sit with us at lunch? Great, see ya.” With that, Minho was gone, leaving Thomas confused.

It wasn’t till third period he learned Minho was one of the most popular guys in school.

\--------------------------------------------------------  
Newt lied in the storage closet, not able to put up with his classmates at the moment. The objects in the room flew around, creating a mess.

His mind kept flashing back to the night his world had fallen apart, the night he lost his sister. It came out of nowhere, none of them had seen the other car. Newt was yelling with her, about what he no longer knew.

While the crash had left him mostly unharmed, he had automatically blacked out. By the time he woke up, she was gone.

His parents had needed someone to blame, and Newt knew he was the easiest one to do so. It was around that time he had started to give up, when he learned he could fly. 

Newt wanted to laugh at the irony of it all. He got his name from the scientist, Isaac Newton. And here he was, in a storage closet, making every object defy the law of gravity.

He was snapped out of his daze when a broom stopped right in front of his head. It was so close he could feel the wood. It suddenly flew away, and everything crashed to the ground. The door snapped open, to reveal Alby.

They wordlessly head to class, not bothering to ask or answer questions.

\----------------------------------------------  
Gally dragged Ben away from the table, furious that they’d been seen.

“What was that?” Gally had his friend pinned against the wall, anger going through his veins. All he wanted was to get a few answers.

“Let’s just do the research.” Gally sighed and walked away to the computers, automatically searching for answers.

“Remind me what's so interesting about the kid from the hallway.” 

“Remember the teacher I had in kindergarten?” Ben nodded, letting Gally continue as he turned on the computer next to him. “He’s the son.”

“Wow.” After that they searched in silence for about an hour. Right before the library closed, Ben called him over.”

“I’ve got names. Thomas Paige, son of Ava Paige.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the short chapter, but next chapter is the Newtmas meeting... and every time I try to wright next I right newt... please review and hope you enjoyed


	5. Chapter 5

“I just don’t understand why you put up with this crazy thing.”

“And I don’t understand why you are so upset about Griever.”

Once more, the reason they were arguing was the stupid cat. It had been about a month since he had gotten Griever, and they had yet to stop arguing about it.

Not that Minho had any regret about getting him.

Both of them knew they would move on from this, it was just the most reason thing to scream about. Brenda shook her head before sitting next to him on the couch with a sigh.

“Whatever, can we just talk about something else. Like, I don’t know, the new kids.”

“Yeah, one of them is coming over in about an hour.”

“What!?” Minho burst into laughter when he saw his friends look of shock on her face. He had been wondering how to tell her about Thomas, his new, if not a bit strange friend.

“Yeah, you know Thomas? The kid with the brown hair that looks like nothing makes sense to him?” Brenda slowly nodded her head, still looking confused. It was obvious why; It was weird for someone besides Brenda to see him outside of school, much less when he had only known them for a week.

Slowly Brenda lowered her voice, knowing Minho’s parents were in the next room, and they didn’t know about his abilities. “Does he know? You know, about the super speed.”

Minho shook his head, causing Brenda to relax a bit. “While he has come close, I swear, that kid is freaking smart, he doesn’t know.”

She sunk into the couch, still looking a bit worried. Minho immediately sped off, soon returning with Griever. While she rolled her eyes, Brenda gave in and took the cat, leaving them in silence.

“Just be careful. You know what will happen if someone finds out.”

“And they won’t. I promise.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------  
It had been about three days since they found out the name of his teacher. Since then, they had not been able to figure out any other information besides the fact this was Thomas’ tenth school. 

The fact that that piece of information was accompanied with only questions had set Gally on edge. He needed more information, needed to know what was causing his powers, needed to know what was going on.

He didn’t bother listening to his teacher explain the lesson, instead settling on glaring at the new students, who were somehow all in his science class. 

He somehow didn’t notice the blond sitting next to her, assuming that she would just be with her friend like always. He jumped when he felt a hand on his arm, shattering the beaker in his hand. Ignoring the glare from his teacher, instead sending a glare to Sonya.

“What do you want?” Gally watched as she snapped out of her surprise, before looking at him nervously. 

“If you want answers, then head to the library at eight next Tuesday.”

“Answers about what?”

“I think you know.” With that, Sonya was gone, leaving behind a confused and angered Gally.

He never did notice how the liquid that had previously covered him and the desk suddenly vanished without a trace.

\----------------------------------------------------------  
It was one month before she turned sixteen that she decided it was time for the two friends to see each other again.

After Aris left, Teresa had been pretty much alone. Seeing as she and Aris had known each other their whole lives and only ever talked through their minds, Teresa didn’t really know how to communicate normally. This left her with plenty of undisturbed freetime.

One night Teresa couldn’t sleep due to the memories. While others were concerned due to how sad Teresa was, she knew it was just because they didn’t know what it was like to have someone literally in their mind for years, developing a unique bond, and for it to just stop one day.

Tired of being helpless, Teresa had finally decided to get some answers as to what was ruining her existence. That was when she found out about the flare.

When she moved, she expected for things to just feel right again, as though nothing had changed. But when she talked to Aris about the flare, it didn’t matter they were back together, that they were thinking out loud, that they were moving stars.

When Teresa woke the next morning, she still felt like something was missing, that something had changed, but not in a good way.

It wasn’t till a week later she realized she no longer knew what was missing.

\----------------------------------------------------------  
After the flare had started, Ava Paige shut down the trials. But it wasn’t before her son had been injected. 

At first she had feared for her son, believing he would die. But when he was fine, she thought it was over. But then she took the job as a teacher after they had fled, and on her first year she had a young boy toss a desk through the wall.

She left, taking another job, believing she was going insane. But then she found Thomas covering chalkboards in their garage, she began to question everything she thought she knew. It was when two students claimed to be able to speak telepathically, even though she denied it for their own good, she knew.

And she was ready to take down anyone to keep Thomas safe.

\---------------------------------------------------------  
After another week, Newt had the worst breakdown he’d had since the night he first flew. He skipped his class, and ran outside, ignoring the rain around him. He closed his eyes and sank to the ground, head in his hands, trying to calm down.

He had been sitting there for a while, not crying, but breathing raggedly, not noticing the sounds of creaking above him, nor the pair of eyes on him.

It happened in the blink of an eye, so fast Newt’s mind couldn’t even process it. The rain must of caused it, but next thing he knew, about three bricks fell from the roof. By the way they were falling, they most likely would of hit his head, killing him or leaving him injured for a long time.

Instead, they stopped only a quarter of an inch above his head, brushing his hair. Newt was shocked still, not realizing he should most likely be moving out of the way. Mainly because the next thing he knew, he was about a foot away, bricks falling out of the way, and a pair of arms around him.

There wasn’t a even a moment before the mystery person started asking questions. 

“Wait, where did those bricks come from? And how did you do that, I can tell by your face that wasn’t the first time. Who are you?” Newt pushed away, keeping his eyes closed, not wanting to face the guy in front of him. He sighed, knowing there was no denying it. They knew.

“They were probably placed up there as a joke. My names Newt. As for how how I did that…” Newt slowly opened his eyes, met with the sight of intelligent brown eyes and brown hair, wet from the rain. “I’ve been able to do that as long as I can remember. Go ahead, call the bloody cops or run or whatever.”

“I’m not calling the cops.” Newt looked up in surprise,only to see the stranger sitting down properly. They locked eyes, and the other boy placed his arm on Newt’s shoulder, ignoring his flinch. “And you’re not okay, are you.” It wasn’t a question.

“What do you care? You don’t even know me.”

“My names Thomas. Now, what’s wrong?”

Newt wasn’t sure what possessed him to talk, but soon he was telling Thomas everything. By the time he ended, he was crying. “I’m just so bloody tired. I just wish that this freaking… curse wouldn’t stop getting in the way of it just ending.”

Thomas looked at him sadly, searching for words. “Maybe the reason you can’t give up, is because there is a part of you that you can’t see that has given up on giving up.”

With that, they sat staring at the cars on the road, only sound being the rain around them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now they have met! I know Newt just telling Thomas everything like that is unrealistic, but that will be explained later. I hope their meeting was good, I'm actually kinda proud of it. Please be sure to comment, and I'll be sure to update soon.


	6. Chapter 6

She knew her perfect world had ended the second she had walked in to see her parent’s sad faces. She sat, scared of what they had to say, never expecting them to give her the news they gave her.

Sonya Stix was adopted.

While she had always wondered why she and her parents didn’t look anything alike, she never thought that this could be why. But the most terrifying part of it wasn’t that. It wasn’t the fact that they didn’t even know where Sonya had come from. All they had was a little necklace that said W.I.C.K.E.D.

Sonya and Harriet worked together to find what the letters stood for. There they found the most terrifying part. They were doing an experiment on innocents they would kidnap and use. All of the subjects were either dead or missing since the experiment ended.

The entire thing had somehow managed to be covered up but Sonya had a feeling that these experiments were the reason that they were special.

After learning the new information, all she could think of was how that one guy from the library was looking up someone, which she wouldn’t of thought much of it if it weren’t for the name.

Ava Paige. The person who had been in charge of the company. The one Sonya blamed, not for her powers, but for the others who died.

That was why she was in the library, nervously clutching a bottle of water in her hands. She immediately stilled her shaking self when she saw Gally walking to her.

“Okay, you got my attention. Now what do you want, blo-” Sonya cut him off by throwing the bottle in the air, letting Gally catch the bottle as she led the water into her cupped hands, before allowing it to flow into the bottle once more.

“We need to talk. I heard you talking about Ava Paige.”

The water bottle exploded in Gally’s hand

\----------------------------------------------------------  
“I just don’t understand why we need to learn things we will never use in life instead of things that we will use for the rest of our lives.”

“Good point. You know what will help you?”

“What?”

“Take the cat.”

“I don’t see how a cat will help,” Thomas said, taking the furry creature from Minho anyway. 

“It will. Now pet the cat.”

“Humans are weird.” As he absentmindedly stroked Griever’s fur, Thomas couldn’t help but let his mind wonder back to the boy from a few days ago. While Thomas new pretty much knew everything about the boy, he had yet to talk to him or about him. 

He was shaken back to reality by Minho, who seemed to of gotten bored of his strange video game, and had taken to poking him repeatedly. “You here, Thomas? Hello, earth to freak.”

“Very funny Minho. Yes I’m here.”

“Good, or I’d have to kick your butt. And yes, I am. Now, what’s going through that mind of yours.” Thomas rolled his eyes before shoving Minho a bit, earning a smirk. “No, seriously, what’s up. You're no fun if you're keeping secrets.”

“Says the person who somehow manages to get to school unnoticed, everyday, even though they are the most popular person in the entire school.” All Thomas got was a glare. Eventually he sighed, deciding to give in and tell his only friend what he was freaking out about.

“You won’t believe me.”

“Try me.” Thomas fixated his gaze to the cat, not wanting to look the other in the eye.

“I met someone.” Thomas decided to ignore Minho’s smirk at his choice of words. “And I didn’t know them for long, but now I feel like it’s up to me to make sure they're alright. Except I know they’re not and I’m not good with emotions and I can’t stop thinking about them and feeling guilty and-” Minho cut off his rambling by placing a hand on his arm.

“You like her.”

“I only knew them for about four hours and haven’t talked to them since.”

“You really like her.”

“She is a guy.”

“Oh, sorry.” Thomas almost relaxed before Minho continued. “You really like him.” Thomas stared at him dumbly. “Don’t worry, I’m not judgmental. It’s totally cool for you to have a crush on a guy.”

“There is no such thing as a crush. All it is is a chemical reaction in the brain caused by-”

“Fine, you have a chemical reaction for him. Don’t deny it.”

“But I don’t. And you are mentally insane.”

“Yes, I am, but that doesn't change reality. You like him.”

“I don’t- You know what? Just forget about about this conversation.” Thomas looked up when he only got silence, only to see confusion on Minho’s face.

“What conversation?” Thomas relaxed, glad and surprised he had listened.

“Thank you.”

“For what?”

For once, Thomas decided not to question it

\------------------------------------------------------------  
In all honesty, he had no idea why he was here, standing at the doorstep, hand against the door. It had been a week since they had met once more, yet it felt like they were still waiting to meet once more.

At first, Aris didn’t know how to take the news of Teresa and the Flare. But now he felt comforted by the thought that he wasn’t alone. That he and Teresa weren’t alone.

When it came to Teresa, on the other hand, he was still torn about how to fell.

On one hand, things had changed. Teresa had changed since from that young energetic child he knew in fifth grade, and he knew the same could be said about him. And that scared him. Plus, it was all so sudden. Everything he had grown used to was gone, his reality shaken by a pair of blue eyes.

But in a way, that made it better.

If he had to guess why he was here, Aris would most likely say it was because while it scared him, he wanted things to change. Since Teresa had returned, he felt an empty void in his heart fill just a bit, and knew if they could fix their friendship.

While he never knocked, he guessed that he had been worrying a bit too much, enough for Teresa to feel. Slowly the door opened, leaving his hand hovering awkwardly in the air. They stood in silence for a second, not sure what to say. Then Aris dropped his hand on her shoulder, pulling her in for a hug.

‘I am so, so sorry. I will never leave you like that again.’

But instead of returning the hug, Teresa pushed him away. Instead of telepathically thinking it, She said “Coming here was a mistake.” 

Instead of rekindling their friendship, she shut the door on him.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Newt wasn’t sure what he was supposed to be feeling right now. He wasn’t sure if he was supposed to be happy or sad someone knew his secrets, while he knew nothing about them. He wasn’t sure if he should be relieved or upset he hadn’t seen him since the incident.

And he wasn’t sure why he felt a bit better that someone knew.

He knew he was ignoring Alby, who was leaning against the wall in his room. It didn’t matter how often he told him to go, he always said. In that moment it struck Newt that Alby didn’t know. Even though he could be annoying at times, he was always there for Newt.

He was the closest thing Newt had to a friend, yet he had no clue Newt had learned to fly during a suicide attempt. All he knew was he fell, and he flew.

Yet a random stranger knew everything.

Newt knew he needed to find the other boy. They needed to talk, but first, he had someone to apologize to.

“Alby?”

“What amazing insult do you have for me this time?” Alby didn’t even look up from his phone.

“I wasn’t aiming the bowling ball for your head. I’ll try to warn you if it happens again.” Alby stared in disbelief before slowly breaking into the first true smile Newt had seen from him.

“Did I almost get an apology from you?”

“Shut up.” He also decided he could apologize over time instead of all right then, so he could still insult him.

“Thank you Newt. Nice to know you don’t completely hate me.”

Newt sent a pillow flying into his direction, greeted only by laughter.

\--------------------------------------------------------------  
She wished he had never been infected by the flare.

Ava could still remember finding her son, the needle still in his skin. She had run, wanting him to safe. Now she was wondering if all that running had been for nothing.

No matter where she went, strange things would happen. Another person infected by the disease. What she feared most was that these people would make her son realize his powers. And then die from the flare.

One more person, and she would start searching for a way to end their powers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I CAN EXPLAIN!!!!!!!! I am so, so sorry I haven't updated lately when I promised I would, but I completely forgot that I had band camp. So ten hours marching and playing outside in ninety plus degree weather left me to worn out to write. then I was going to update yesterday, but as soon as I sat down to write, I was out. I have about on to two weeks left till I have school once more so I'll try to update as much as possible till then. Remember to comment if you like this, THANK YOU for all the support I've gotten on this story.


	7. Chapter 7

The clock was driving him insane. It seemed to be going slower than normal, aggravating him to no end. While time usually didn’t even bother him since he could go several miles a second, today a single sentence seemed to slow down time itself.

‘Says the person who somehow manages to get to school unnoticed, everyday, even though they are the most popular person in the entire school.’

Ever since Thomas had said that, the words would not leave Minho’s mind

Tick.

Minho was no paranoid that someone would notice his speed. He was scared of using his speed to get to school, worried for once someone would notice. For once in his life, Minho Shank was worried about Brenda being right about him being caught. For once, he was scared.

Tock.

He had ten minutes till school, yet he couldn’t just sit there any longer. He stood up, tossing his bag over his shoulder, and speed to the door. At the last moment, he remembered to check on Griever. He turned, but was to slow, and crashed into the door.

Tick.

Minho stared in shock, disbelief clouding his mind.

Tock.

That was the first time his powers had ever failed him.

Tick. 

“I’m going now, ‘k Griever?” He didn’t even get a response. Not giving it much thought, he began to run to school, for once at human speed. It wasn’t until later he wondered why his cat didn’t respond like it normally would.

Tock.

\----------------------------------------------------  
“Sonya, Harriet, I swear, if either of you hit me with water again, I will break one of you and leave the other to watch.”

“Shut up Gally, they’re just having fun.”

“Shut up Ben, they should be working.”

“If you two would shut up, maybe we could do so.”

This was how their work sections usually went, with a lot of arguing, and not much progress. Ever since they learned of their common enemy, they had been working to find answers. Sadly, the case of W.I.C.K.E.D. had been hidden very well.

Which made it hard to learn anything about Paige.

“We will find something, right?”

“Of course we will I mean-”

“The group in the back, in case you can’t read, this is an independent project, so be quiet or detention.”

The teacher didn’t notice the pen explode as Gally threw it to the paper, only turning around when Sonya had handed him a new one.

\---------------------------------------------  
Teresa hadn’t left her room in days. She only left when her parents practically threw her out of the house so she would go to school. Even though, she had barely spoken, not making any friends.

Which she found okay. Teresa knew she was strong, that she didn’t need anyone to rely on. But that didn’t mean she didn’t feel alone.

She felt guilty for shutting Aris out, but knew she would only hurt more if she had to pretend things were like they used to be. Because it could never be the same again.

She was in the hallway, trying to get to science when she crashed into her.

“Sorry I- oh, it’s you.” Teresa looked up to see the girl she had crashed into that first day. Brenda.

“We really need to stop meeting like this.”

“Yeah. Before you go…” Brenda grabbed her arm to keep her from getting away again. “I never got your name.”

“Would you like to sit together at lunch?” Teresa wasn’t sure why she asked the question, it just felt right. Brenda looked surprised before her face gave way to a smile.

“That would be great…” She stalled off, reminding Teresa she still hadn’t said her name.

“Teresa Agnes. My names Teresa.”

\--------------------------------------------------  
He should have known his day had been going to good. Or, in reality, his week.

Ever since the other day, he had been spending more time with Alby, for once not being against his will. He had felt better, while not enough to be considered 100% happy, he was feeling the closest to that as he had in a long time.

Then they had to be studying about his name sake discovering gravity.

It was horrible, listening to how people couldn’t just float away. Normal people that was. As soon as class ended, he ran out, before they saw. Once he stopped, he fell to the ground, leg giving out, while the items surrounding began to float in midair.

Newt had never had control of his power; it seemed to have a mind of it’s own. He racked his mind, looking for an solution. 

Maybe you just need an anchor.

It was something Alby had suggested last time this happened. He searched, but came up with nothing. This only caused him to panic more, resulting in more out of control objects.

“Dude, honestly, the cat helps.” Newt wouldn’t have thought much of the conversation if it wasn’t for the next voice.

“Sure, whatever you say, Minho.” Newt knew that voice.

“Tommy?” Newt quickly clamped his hand over his mouth, half worried that one of them had heard, half wondering where the nickname had come from.

Luckily, no one heard him. “Well it does, and if you even deny it, I swear, I will find the nearest stick and-”

“Jeez, Minho, just calm down.”

Just calm down.

With that, the items settled down,.

With that, Minho quieted.

With that, Newt felt calm.

\----------------------------------------------------  
“Thomas, could you come here for a second?”

In a matter of seconds, her son was sat next to her, staring worriedly.

“Mom? Is everything alright?” Ava sighed.

“That’s what I wanted to ask you. Is school alright? You’ve been gone often so…”

Thomas only smiled. “Nothing’s wrong. Quite the opposite actually. I made a friend.” Ava lost track of his words, only seeing her son’s joy.

“That’s great sweetie. That’s it. You should get some rest, school night.”

Thomas smiled before surprising her with a hug. “Goodnight, Mom.”

Right before he got away she called him back. “What’s your friend’s name again?”

“Minho.” Ava nodded before going back to her video. The video taken from The collar of the cat she had hidden it on.

The video of Thomas’ friend running into his wall at speeds no human should be able to reach.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I know. So I finally updated again... I know I promised to update more but I've been going through some emotional pain lately and the next thing I knew... bam it's time for school with band practice! I will try to update every weekend and once during the week if I can. Remember to comment if you liked this. Now things will start to get more interesting and less angsty for Newt so... yeah. Once more, I'll update when possible, and be sure to let me know what you thought and stuff.


	8. Chapter 8

Brenda was right: he wasn’t being careful enough. But, to be far, how was he supposed to know he was being watched. That someone knew. At this point, he was only sure of one thing.

He messed up.

Minho was walking into the school when it happened. He was talking to Thomas, utterly confused.

“Okay, seriously, why are you acting so weird lately? Well, weirder than usual. Seriously, this is starting to get worrying.” Thomas just shook his head sighing.

“I already told you, and you know that. You’re not getting me to talk about him again.”

“Wait, who? Come on, stop messing with me, we haven't talked about anything that could be messing with you like this.” Thomas flipped around, obviously angered at him. Minho just didn’t remember what.

“Look, I know I told you to forget about the talk we had, and I thank you for that, but this is going to far. Don’t talk to me until you’re ready to accept that.” With that, Thomas was gone. Minho just stood there, about to run over to him, when he was suddenly pulled over.

“Hey, what the-” He cut himself off when he saw who it was. He immediately remembered seeing her picture on Thomas’ phone. “Ms. Paige?”

She smiled a smile without any hint of kindness or happiness. “Hello Minho. I heard you were one of my son’s friends. Minho slowly nodded his head, confused beyond belief. Not taking any not of his discomfort, she continued, smile dropping.

“I need you to stay away from him. Don’t talk to him, work with him, eat with him, or anything of the sort. Can you do that?”

“What? No way! What are you, insane?” Minho asked, dumbfounded. Ms. Paige let out a sigh, shaking her head.

“I was hopping it wouldn’t have to go this far. Then again, I should have know when you crashed into that wall. That must of hurt, going that fast, only to, oh what’s the saying… crash and burn.” Minho stared, feeling like someone had emptied the world of oxygen.

“How… But-” He felt himself be pushed to the wall, but couldn’t bring himself to fight back.

“I already almost lost him to the flare; I’m not going to let that happen to him now. I won’t let him be exposed to it like you have. Stay away from my son.” With that, she promptly turned around, and stopped just long enough to say “Or I tell them all.”

Then she was gone, leaving Minho with an impossible decision.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------  
Harriet was confused as to why she was told to come to the library, alone. She was even more confused when no one else was there.

She was just about to leave when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Harriet let out a small yelp of surprise as she flipped around, causing the water fountain behind her to soak her attacker.

She was greeted to the sight of an angry, confused, and very wet Gally. “What was that for?”

“I could ask you the same thing. Why did you call me here?” Gally sighed before pulling out a chair, that had been previously attached to the floor, for Harriet to sit on. 

“We have a problem.” Harriet let out a breath of laughter before falling silent, gesturing for Gally to continue. “Whatever we’re getting ourselves into has gotten people killed before. We don’t even know if you, me, and Sonya are the only survivors. Someone could get hurt.”

“I understand that, but why are you only telling me this?” Gally looked up, a sad look in his eyes.

“Because Ben’s normal, he has no powers. Because Sonya’s still weak from the news about her parents. You knew you were adopted, but she didn’t. They don’t need to get hurt.”

Harriet’s mind flashed back to when she first met Sonya, when she was just a little girl who wanted to play with liquid. So much had changed since then.

“What do we do?”

“I don’t know.”

\--------------------------------------------------------------------  
Empty. That’s all she felt. For five years everything was just-

“Hey, T, you with me.” Brenda’s voice snapped Teresa out of her disjointed thoughts. She put on a smile, turning to face her.

“Yeah, just a little lost in my thoughts.” Brenda smiled back, before handing over an apple, which she had been doing ever since they had started having lunch together a week ago.

“So, you never did say why you came here.” Teresa’s heart sped up, and she was freaking out inside. She had yet to speak to or about Aris, but she knew she had to. Brenda seemed to notice Teresa’s discomfort, immediately trying to change the subject.

“No, it’s alright,” Teresa said, slowly shaking her head. I moved here to catch up with an old friend of mine. I had a few things I needed to explain, but things didn’t really go according to plan. So I’m here.” Brenda nodded her head.

“Yeah, sometimes things change. But it can get better. A while back, My friend, Minho, discovered something about himself. At first I thought that was the end of our friendship. But then it just made us stronger. Wait, there he is.”

A tall Asian walked past their table, ignoring Brenda’s calls, head hung low. 

“And there he goes… I swear, that doesn’t usually happen. Things will get better.” Teresa nodded, not paying much attention. Because she has just caught sight of Aris. “Just don’t give up.”

Teresa took a deep breath to calm her thought’s and build up her courage. ‘Aris’

Once he looked up, she raised a hand in a wave. He hesitated before a small smile spread on his face as he waved back.

“I won’t give up.”

\----------------------------------------------------------------------  
“I don’t think we should talk anymore.”

“Wait, what?” The words hit Thomas like a train. They had just been talking about the new book series, Scorch, when Minho said it.

“You heard me. Just please, don’t make me repeat it.” Thomas stared in shock, for once unable to process the sudden turn of events. It just didn’t make sense unless… 

“Wait, this isn’t about earlier, is it? Because-”

“No, just- just don’t talk to me anymore.” Thomas could hear how forced the words were, almost as though this wasn’t Minho talking.

“Who’s doing this to you. Whatever they’re doing, you can tell me.”

“Just shut up! Goodbye, Thomas.” Minho got up, sending a sad look his way. Then, in a flash, he was gone. Thomas just stared at the spot where he had stood, shock causing him to slide to the ground, feeling a few droplets of rain start to hurt his face.

For once, Thomas just didn’t understand. He had been sitting anywhere from five minutes to five hours when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He jumped, head snapping up to see who it was, ready to run. Then he saw who it was.

“Tommy?” Newt slowly slide to sit next to him, hand sliding over to rest on his back. “What is it?”

“Do you ever feel like there is just someone standing over you, letting you just reach happiness before they then go and crush it under their foot.” He could practically hear the eye roll.

“I jumped of a bridge and went up instead of down. What do you think?” 

“Right. Stupid question.” He felt Newt bump his shoulder into his till he looked up at him.

“It’s not stupid. Now, I know you’re the genius, but I can tell you’re not alright. What’s wrong? Why are you out here, sitting in the bloody rain?”

“This is my tenth school. I keep getting kicked out of schools because I’m smart. But not a single one of them was I able to make a friend. No one’s ever liked me, and I’m starting to see why. Then, I finally find someone who’s willing to talk to me, and they just threw me off to the side like I’m trash.” Thomas took a deep breath before looking out into the rain.

“I just don’t get this. And I can’t stand not knowing things.” Thomas was snapped back to reality when he felt the hand on his back start to move up and down, slowly and comfortably. 

“No one really understands, Tommy. I don’t know why I can fly, they don’t know what a good person you are, you don’t know what’s going on. But there is something I know. You’re wrong.”

Thomas looked up in confusion, met with a pair of sad yet reassuring eyes. “And how am I wrong?” Newt gave a small smile.

“Not everyone hates you. Atleast, I don’t. Soon enough, we will figure it all out. But listen to me, you are not alone. I thought that and it only led me to darkness. Hell, it still is. But I won’t let you go through that.”

Thomas smiled, realizing that at some point he and Newt had gotten closer. He didn’t bother fixing it. “Thanks Newt.” Newt smiled, letting his hand rest on Thomas’ back for a second before moving it to his own hand, pulling him up. 

“Let’s go figure this out.”

Thomas smiled, glad to of found his new friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Que Thomas being an oblivious idiot. Okay, I might have lied a bit about the angst... NOW it will go down. Remember to comment if possible, and thank you to those of you who are reading this. By now it has reached over 10,000 words, which is insane. just.... thank you.


	9. Chapter 9

“Life is so freaking unfair.”

“Welcome to reality. Know what would help?”

“Shut up Princess… what?”

“Uh…”

“Take the cat.”

“The cat is evil and a betrayer. No.”

“Oh, so know you listen to me about the cat being evil. Just take the stupid thing or-”

“Guys-”

“Don’t call Griever stupid or I will throw you out. Now shut up, I’m not taking the stupid thing.”

“GUYS! Just shut up for one freaking second, or I will throw you both out of the house, which would be extraordinarily awkward considering this isn’t even my house. Good, now, what’s going on?” Minho took his time looking between the two girls in the room, confused about what was going on as well.

“So where’d you pick this one up,” Minho said, staring pointedly at Brenda while gesturing in Teresa’s direction. It took everything he had not to laugh at the two girls trying not to blow up on him while battling to speak first. In the end, Brenda won.

“Well, I could ask you the same thing about Thom-”

“Don’t. Just… please don’t. Seeming to sense his discomfort, Teresa spoke up once more.

“Alright, what’s going on? If neither of you tell me, things get ugly.” The room was filled with silence, only broken by Brenda’s sigh.

“Minho’s being an overgrown baby about something, But he won’t tell me anything but he messed up and it’s all his stupid cats fault.” Minho shot up into a sitting position, knocking over a pot by his speed.

“Stop calling the stupid cat a stupid cat!” He looked over to Teresa to see a pair of startling blue eyes fixated on him. Deciding he liked living and would rather not be killed by two angry females, who could probably take him down in .02 seconds, he continued.

“As Brenda said, I messed up. Tho- my friend and I got into a fight and now he hates me and I know there’s literally nothing I can do to fix this. And even if I could, which I can’t, it wouldn’t be the same.” Teresa suddenly got a look on her face as though she’d seen a ghost. Before he could question it, Brenda spoke up.

“That doesn’t mean it isn’t worth trying. I mean, even if it wasn’t the same, that could be good. Maybe it would just make the both of you stronger.” Suddenly, Teresa was gathering her things, a haunted look on her face.

“I’ve got to go and fix something. But Minho, listen to her advice. And Bren, if he won’t listen…” Teresa looked around for a second before gesturing to the cat. “Throw it out.” Before Minho could yell at her, she was gone. Minho plopped back down on the floor.

“I don’t like you friends. But it’s not that easy in this- HEY! What are you doing with Griever?” He stared at Brenda, who had taken the cat in her arms, standing by the door.

“Throwing him out,” Brenda shrugged. “Just following orders and- Hey!” Brenda stared at the spot where the cat had just been before looking up to see the newly made pillow fort. “You’re impossible.”

“My stupid cat!”

\--------------------------------------------------------------  
She was crying when she got the call. She had been remembering about her parents, wishing it was all a dream. As soon as she got the call she was walking outside, the short phone call running through her head.

“Meet me. You know where.”

She was barely there for a minute when Ben called out to her.

“Hey, Sonya. Over here.” Sonya walked over to him sitting next to him, looking at the stars above them. “Sorry to bother you, I just really needed someone to talk to.” Sonya looked over at him in curiosity. 

“About what?” He sighed.

“Gally has super strength. You and Harriet can make water fly in the freaking air. Who knows what the other survivors of the flare can do. Then you have me. I’m human. I’m normal and nothing compared to you guys. I just wish I could be better.” 

Sonya looked over to Ben, feeling the need to help him. “Ben, do you actually think that? Do you have any idea how many times people would have figured out about Gally without you?” Ben just shrugged, a small smile appearing on his face.

“People are pretty oblivious. I mean, they never noticed he threw a desk through the wall in kindergarten, yet no one really noticed.” Sonya shot straight up into the air, eyes wide.

“They told us that was just a construction error.”

“Yeah, if a construction error comes in the form of an angry six year old who really want’s his crayons back.” The two teenagers stared at each other before bursting into loud, tear causing, joyous laughter.

Sonya decided things could be worse.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------  
The three boys sat there, exhausted by the sheer amount of talking done in the past few hours. Newt had decided it would be good to let the two people closest to him get to know each other and finally tell Alby the truth. They laid across his room, Alby sprawled across a chair while He and Thomas shared the bed, Thomas’ head having of fallen on his shoulder at some point.

“So let me get this right. Your friend was acting like he had never talked to you about a major conversation you had, and then just up and left for good.” Thomas nodded the best he could without moving his head off Newt’s shoulder.

Newt rolled his eyes before shrugging Thomas’ head off. “It does sound a little weird when you put it like that. But then is pretty much anything in this bloody life.” Alby ignored him, still staring at Thomas.

“You said you told him to forget?” Thomas nodded, Newt confused as to what Alby’s point was. “And he did?” When Thomas nodded once more, Newt finally caught on, memories flashing through his mind.

“It took me months to open up to Alby about this. Yet all you had to do was ask. And then during you and Minho’s conversation, both him and me calmed down when you said to.” Thomas’ eyes widened when he realized what was being implied.

“You’re saying I have… mind control?” Before either of them could say anything, Thomas had excused himself and was downstairs to get some water and breath. As soon as he was gone, Alby turned to Newt.

“You know, he might be a bit weird, but he’s nice. How’d you two meet again?”

“He saved my life.” Newt spoke softly, feeling a small smile on his face as he remembered the day when he realized that maybe someone actually cared. Alby smiled back.

“It’s cool that you found someone like him. I guess I approve.” Newt laughed, not really understanding what Alby was implying.

“Yeah, Tommy’s… different to say the least. But now that I have you two, I guess maybe things could get better. Well, for now at least.” Alby nodded before giving Newt a reassuring smile.

“Yeah, I’m just glad you guys are happy. Now you might want to go help your boyfriend.” Newt’s eyes widened when he realized what Alby was implying. 

“Woah, me and Tommy aren’t- we aren’t- he’s not- were just friends.” 

Alby’s eyes widened before an evil smirk crossed his face. “You sure, because I’ve never seen your powers this calm before, and by the way he was using you as a pillow.”

To say Thomas was confused when he saw an army of pillows attacking Alby while Newt was reading a book, ignoring the whole thing would be an understatement.

\--------------------------------------------------------------  
Brenda’s words still haunted her mind, causing her to walk to the middle of the forest. It was the only clear spot in the forest, so she knew that this was the right spot. She closed her eyes, trying to mentally prepare herself before she did this.

‘Aris.’

‘What? I thought you didn’t want to talk?’

‘Aris, please just meet me.’

She had to wait about five minutes till he was there. They stared at each other, unsure of what to do, the silence comfortable and awkward at the same time. Finally Aris looked up seeing the sky.

“The stars are out.”

‘That’s why I chose it here.’ Teresa sighed before continuing. “I’m sorry. What I did was wrong, I was scared. And you know how hard it is for me to admit that.” Aris looked up, looking defeated.

“And why should I trust you.”

“Because while things change, that can just make us stronger.” Teresa was confused when he closed his eyes till something appeared by his foot. Aris picked it up before handing it to her, revealing a flower.

“But I hate flowers.”

‘I know. I don’t really know what you like now so I figured it would be best to give you something I know you would always hate instead. Cause, well, you know?’ They stared at the flower before bursting into laughter.

‘You.’ Aris looked at her, obviously confused. ‘I like you.’

He smiled nervously as he took her hand. ‘Promise never to do this with someone else.’

‘Why would I?’ Teresa thought as she moved a star above them.

It was when he pressed their lips together that Teresa finally felt whole again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One ship down, one two go... once they stop being oblivious idiots... this is gonna take a while...  
> But yay! longest chapter yet! Hope you enjoyed and be sure to let me know if you did and all that.


	10. Chapter 10

To say she was worried about her friend would be an understatement. He said he was alright, and he was back to pulling pranks and obsessing over his stupid cat. But his pranks had lost their creativity and it was obviously he wasn’t truly enjoying them. Even when he was ranting about how amazing his cat, the look in his eyes told another story. It all added up to one thing.

Minho was just pretending to be alright.

Brenda didn’t know what to do. Every time she tried to make him happy and go along with it, his smile just became more forced, yet every time she tried to confront the problem, he just shut her out with the two words she despised right now.

“I’m fine.”

Brenda shook her head in exasperation, too stubborn to give up yet so close to doing so any way. “Min, it's obvious you're not. Just talk to me.” 

Minho shook his head and put on a disgustingly fake smirk. “Oh shut up, my dear princess. Now go and pet a cat or something. Maybe then you’ll see the truth: I’m fine.”

“Minho. I mean this in the nicest way possible: shut up and see reality. You're obviously not fine. So please, talk to me.” Minho rolled her eyes, flipping around to walk away. Brenda stood, frozen in place, unsure of what to do next.

As he left, he made sure to scream “Whenever you’re ready to see reality, let me know so we can prank Mr. Jans again. I love seeing that look on his face when all his experiments blow up in his face.” Then he was gone.

Brenda was in shock, not noticing Mr. Jans stop in confusion or Teresa and another boy walk up to her. Once she did, She immediately sat down, staring distastfully at her lunch. Teresa plopped down next to her, and the other kid next to Teresa.

“Is Minho still being a brat?”

“Yep.” Brenda looked up to see her friend explaining to the mystery person what was going on. Once she caught him up, strangely fast with little words, the kid turned to face Brenda.

“Give him time. Trust me.” The kid reached to take Teresa’s hand, then continued without looking up. “It get’s better.”

Teresa nodded, seemingly fine with her hand being held. “Listen to Aris, he’s right from time to time.

Brenda nodded, hoping they were right.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------  
“Gally, put the desk down. This school doesn’t need another clue to your powers.”

“Well it’s not like they’ll notice.”

“Shut up, Ben!”

“Guys.”

“Not now! Put the desk down.”

“I will if I get some answers!”

“Guys, I found-”

“Not know! We could look for answers if we weren't worrying about the desk.”

“I need answers! Stop screaming at me then you could find some.”

“But if you would listen to-”

“Not now Harriet!” Harriet sighed, slamming her head on the keyboard. The room was chaotic. Gally was holding a desk that had been previously connected to the floor over his head, Ben and Sonya were jumping around like idiots in hopes to stop him. Harriet slowly lifted her head off the keyboard, glaring at her friends.

“Guys.” This time they didn’t even yell at her to be quiet. Determined to be heard, Harriet scanned the room for the closest water source. A sink.

Suddenly the screaming stopped, replaced by three teenagers, completely soaked to the bone. They glared at Harriet, who sat on the only dry spot in the room, innocently twirling a bit of water around her finger. “Gee, thanks for all the attention.”

“What do you want?”

“Oh, an ocean palace, a million dollars, lots of things really.” She earned a smirk from Sonya, who playfully threw some of the water back. With one last smile, Harriet went serious. “Bad news, good news. Which do you want to hear-”

“Good. Something good, please. Harriet turned to face Gally, who had spoken the request.

“The camera tapes of the school have some footage of Ava Paige. Their messed up, but if we find the right person, then we can have proof that she did this to us. And I know just the person.”

Sonya and Gally visibly grew happier, cheering and praising her. Ben stood there, a grave look on his face. Harriet sighed, trying to figure out what item Gally would wind up breaking when he heard the bad news.

Ben looked at Harriet, not even trying to hide his worrying. “Who’s our person?”

“That’s where the bad news comes in.”

Harriet really hoped Thomas would be okay with this.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Thomas was not okay.

He lied in the middle of what used to be his garage. Now the walls, ceiling and floor were covered in calculations, solutions to his troubles.

He couldn’t find an answer.

He didn’t see how any of this was possible. Newt being able to fly was one thing, but being told he had the ability of mind control.

Even with all his mind capacity, he couldn’t understand this.

“Thomas. You in here? I was just-” He heard her put down the groceries, and walk over to sit next to him. “Thomas.”

“I’m sorry mom.”

His mom looked at him as though he lost his mind. “This isn’t your fault. You see that, right?” 

“I see failed equations. I see calculations with no answer. I see how I’ve messed up.” 

“With what?” Thomas breathed slowly, trying to find a way to speak without giving anything away.

“If I found something that was impossible, but wasn’t actually impossible would you be upset? Would you be upset if I started doing the impossible. Would you be upset if I was starting to need the impossible for I was growing addicted to it?” His mom stared at him with almost a look of knowing, like she had just heard more than he said.

“Thomas, what did you do? What did you find?” Thomas shook his head, knowing he messed up. He would tell to not worry, but that would just prove he did have the ability. The ability to control.

Thomas really didn’t want that specific power.

“Thomas, did you, did you see something.”

“No.” Thomas felt guilty for lying, but he had a feeling he really shouldn’t tell his mom about anything. Someone might get hurt.

Someone like Newt. 

Thomas didn’t understand where this thought had come from, for his mom wouldn’t even run over an already dead animal while driving the car, much less someone like Newt. 

That didn’t stop him from lying.

“Every things fine. I just haven’t been sleeping well again.” His mom slowly nodded, not looking truly convinced. Instead of asking she just stood up to grab the supplies needed to clean the room he was in.

“You ready to do this?” Thomas nodded, and they started the all too familiar procedure of cleaning the boards covering the garage.

Thomas still felt the need to protect someone, even if he didn’t know why.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the wait, life has been getting in the way. Sorry if this chapter isn't that good, next chapter is where things should start to get interesting. Please comment if you enjoyed or have any thing to say and... yeah


	11. Chapter 11

The treatment the boy received was almost enough to make Newt feel bad for him. It would have too, if it hadn’t been for one thing. This was the boy who hurt Thomas.

Newt had been walking through the school halls, just wanting to escape MAZE for the rest of the day. He was almost out when he heard the pounding of footsteps behind him.

“Hey! Blondie! Wait up!” Newt turned in confusion, only to be met with a familiar face. He had no idea where the other had come from, considering that the hall was empty just a second ago. It almost had him believing that the call was meant for someone else, but there was no one else in the room.

The Asian stopped in front of him, holding out his hand. “Haven't seen you around before. You one of the new kids? Though that doesn't explain why I haven’t seen you before.” Every word said by the teen continued to confuse Newt more and more.

“Why are you talking to me?” Newt cut through the others rambling, wanting answers. A quiet voice in the back of his mind told him the need for answers was from spending too much time around Thomas. Newt chose to ignore the voice and focus on staring at the now silent Asian. “Well?”

“You're British? Why do we have a Brit? Where did you even come from?”

“Britain,” Newt said, dumbfounded. He was confused to a point where everything was becoming a blur, covered by the need for answers. The teen, who Newt swore he knew, rolled his eyes, obviously wanting a better answer.

“Wow. The Brit’s from Britain. Who would’ve guessed.” The sarcasm annoyed Newt, making him shake his head.

“Anyone ever told you that your annoying?” He gave a smirk, clearly bemused by the question.

“All the time. But don’t worry, people grow used to it pretty fast. Some even say it’s endearing.”

“Why are you talking to me?” Newt repeated, just wanting to get out. The other, on the other hand, seemed hell-bent on keeping him hear. 

“You were alone. I don’t like seeing people be lonely. So now I’m your friend. And you don’t get a say in that, I’m not letting you be alone.” Newt, deciding he would give the guy a chance, stuck out his hand.

“Alright then. Since I don’t have a choice; Hi, random person. My name’s Newt.” The other smiled triumphantly, shaking the offered hand.

“New you would see my reasoning. Name’s Minho.” That’s when everything began to go to hell.

All at once, Newt remembered how he knew Minho. He used his powers to help him smash the other into the locker, anger flowing through his veins. Minho let out a surprised noise, looking confused as to why Newt was doing this.

“You're the one that hurt my friend.” He heard the rattle of a book, but didn’t pause to stop it. “Why would you do that to Tommy?”

Minho looked scared, most likely having no idea as to what was happening. “Tommy? Who’s- wait do you mean Thomas?”

Newt was trembling, causing the lights to sway violently. “Yes I mean him! You know he’s been messed up ever since what you did? What was it, a game?” Minho had paled, looking slightly terrified. But most evident was the look of guilt.

“Something came up.” By the way it was said, Newt knew he meant someone. Before the question could be voiced, one of the lights gave out just as the textbook flew out and knocked the teen unconscious. Newt shook his head and turned to leave.

He almost felt bad.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Thomas didn’t understand how this was happening. At around midnight he had gotten a text, telling him to go to an old abandoned building for answers. While Thomas knew it was most likely a trap, curiosity won over, making him follow the direction. The text lead him to where him to a group of four teenagers he recognized from science class.

He stood awkwardly to the side for a moment, observing the group speak in quiet voices, even though they were obviously fighting about something. He only caught snippets of their conversation, each making less sense than the last.

“I didn’t mean the break the locker, it just sort of, well, happened.”

“Son, I swear, if you drown me in the fountain, I will make the pool chase you.”

“It’s not my fault kindergarten teachers are evil! She deserved a desk in the wall.”

“I wasn’t stalking you or anything. I just walked in on you because I had you classes memorized! Wait a minute.”

And the weirdest. “I swear, this whole conspiracy flare thing is just getting out of control.”

Finally, one of the two guys seemed to take note of Thomas’ presence. “Well, would you look at this. The freak did show up.” Thomas automatically began to back up when he saw that this was the same guy who had seemed to hate him since day one of school.

“Gally, don’t scare the poor kid. He’s already going to be going through hell tonight”. The blond haired girls words only made Thomas more sure about what was going on.

This was a trap.

Thomas back hit the wall, his mind quickly strategizing an escape. A tall blond moved forward, careful as though he was approaching a wild animal. 

“Hey, don’t run. We’re not here to hurt you. In fact, we want to help you. You know, as long as you give us a little help in return.” Thomas stared in confusion, strangely intrigued.

“Fine, what do you want?” The final person in the group stared with wide eyes, seemingly surprised.

“You’re giving us a chance?”

“I hate not knowing…” He drifted off, not knowing any of their names. They raced to introduce themselves, making it obvious that despite the fighting, they were obviously friends. Once they finished, the room grew serious, making it seem ten times colder.

“We need you to listen to us. If you want to know- well, no, you need to know. Don’t speak or do anything till we’re done. Some of this you’re not going to like. But you need to know.” Gally locked eyes with him as he spoke, eyes challenging him to do otherwise.

“We don’t know what you know. So we’ll start from the beginning. Not everyone is exactly normal. Some of us are, well, more than human.” Thomas felt his eyes widen, starting to see where this might be going. “We have powers.”

Behind Harriet and Sonya, the soda that was on the table shot out of the bottles and into the air, swirling impossibly fast. Gally then went and pounded his fist onto the table, shattering it. Ben just shrugged.

“I don’t. I just found them. But the point is, not everyone is normal. We just don’t know of how many others there are, or even if there are any.” Thomas wanted to laugh, mind flashing back to when Newt had attacked Alby with flying pillows. 

“But that raises the question of why.” Thomas sat forward, the new question running through his mind. He had never thought of why these powers existed, for just just seemed so natural in the most unnatural way.

“About thirteen years ago, there was a company called W.I.C.K.E.D.” Thomas listened as they explained the event, anger slowly taking over his mind. He couldn’t imagine if this disease had taken him, Newt, or even any of the people in front of him. He felt the need for revenge.

“But now we face a new threat. We think that the person that started the disease might had meant to kill us all. That’s why so many died. And we think they're now trying to finish the job. We think she wants all people with super abilities to die. And Thomas, we think you got the Flare.” The room went silent, only Sonya having the nerve to break it.

“But we have a way to stop it. We have a way of stopping her, of exposing her as a killer. To stop this whole thing. We just need you to fix the videos.”

Thomas nodded, wanting to help. He needed to stop this, to put an end to this chaos. He noticed the others had grown quiet, all looking scared. “What is it? I want to help. I want to stop this. I want to stop-”

“Your mom.”

Thomas felt the temperature of the room drop significantly. He hoped his brain was just pulling a trick on him. Still, he only managed to give out one quiet “What?”

“Thomas, your mom is the one doing this to us. She started the experiment. This is her fault.”

Thomas began to shake his head, disbelief evident in his eyes. “You're wrong.”

Gally stepped up, looking like he was going to murder him. “You sure about that, freak? Think back to all the strange things you’ve seen. Now picture how you’re mom reacted when she heard even the slightest hint of what you knew.”

Thomas couldn’t stop the memories from flooding his mind. Telling Minho to forget about Newt and him doing so. 

Minho always somehow arriving at school the same time he claimed he left.

Newt with bricks hovering just over his head, rain slightly being deflected by an invisible force surrounding the blond.

His mom speaking to him about ridiculous accounts with students claiming to have strange abilities, always in a voice of worry.

His mom, frowning slightly at a hidden computer screen as he spoke about Minho, the night before he stopped being friends with him.

His mom, sounding so on edge as he hinted to her about his mind control power and Newt.

His mom, who smiled so big whenever he hugged her and was always there for him, even if that meant having to redo the entire garage. 

“You’re wrong. You’ll see. You’re wrong.”

Thomas left them behind, swearing he heard the breaking of a desk and the quiet sounds of a defeated cry behind him.

\------------------------------------------------------------------  
They were moving stars once more, going back to the topic that was always on their minds. How they got their powers.

‘I wonder why he did it. I mean, why would he do all that just to kill a lot of kids and give a few super powers?’ A star moved.

‘Well to be fair, he was insane. Janson shouldn’t even of been there. He was banned. He just did. That’s not the real question.’ The star began to glow as the two playfully fought over it.

‘Then what is the real question?’ 

Teresa moved so she could look at Aris, eye’s deadly serious. ‘It isn’t about why he did it or why it got us our powers or why they died. It’s the most simple question, so no one bothers to look at it. How did we get out?’

Aris smiled and laughed when the star fell off the ceiling and landed in the middle of Teresa’s face, causing her to glare at him as she flicked it off.

‘Maybe someone saved us. Got us out of there. Made sure we got good homes.’ Teresa smiled sadly, eyes focused on the star.

‘Or maybe all this is is wishful thinking.’ Aris shook his head, moving to hug his girlfriend.

“Or maybe we’re just not seeing the big picture here.”


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Long chapter. 2075 words long. 1048 of them are about Newt and Thomas. Enjoy.

Pound.

“Hey. I know you’re in there.”

Pound.

“It’s kind of freezing out here. Mind letting me in? You know, it’s not like it’s two fifty. In the morning. In the middle of December. Or anything of the sort.”

Pound.

“You alive in there? I know that you’re awake and obviously something is going on. For you as well as me. Could you please let me in.”

Pound. 

“Please. Just let me in. You’re worrying me here. You aren’t hurt, are you. Cause you know I know the likliness of you slipping back into your old habits. And that I know about ten ways I can get in there by myself if you don’t let me in right now.”

Newt let out a shaky breath, listening to Thomas on the other side of the garage door. He was in no way ready to confront Thomas after the whole Minho situation. But Thomas was relentless, refusing to give up on getting in. Knowing Thomas, being as smart and stubborn as he was, really would break down the door, he slowly stood up, and opened it.

Newt felt his eyes widen as he took in Thomas’ appearance. He wasn’t sure what he should be most concerned about. First off was the obvious effects of him being outside in the cold; he was shivering, clutching onto his clothes, cheeks reddened and lips a slight tint of blue.

Then was the fact that he had obviously been crying. His eyes were red, he looked almost betrayed, and the tears might as well be frozen to his face. Newt wasted no time in pulling Thomas inside, wrapping his arms around him in hopes to warm his friend up. He practically melted into the warmth, shivering still. 

Newt lead him to the couch, quickly handing him a blanket. Thomas took it gratefully, wrapping it around himself. 

“So what’s wrong? Why wouldn’t you answer the door?”

Newt stared at him as though he had just suggested they go visit the sun.

“Tommy. You were just pounding at my door.”

“So?”

“At two fifty am in the freaking beginning of December.”

“Well, yeah.”

“You were crying.”

“Your point?

“Thomas.” The use of his actual name got his attention. “I’m not talking till you do. You’re obviously worse off than me. Now what. Is going. On?” 

His friend sighed, looking like he didn’t know where to start. “Newt, how did you get your powers?”

Newt was taken aback, not sure what the question had to do with anything. “I, uh, don’t know. Just tried to jump off a bridge but instead of going down and actually dieing, I went up. Guessed I couldn’t quite get the grasp of gravity right.

“Newt. Don’t say that. Please, just please do not say that.”

“Sorry.”

“Newt, you’re not alone.”

“Yeah I know that now, I have you and Alby.”

“No Newt. You’re not alone. You were supposed to die. Just like they apparently were.” With that, Thomas began explaining everything from the flare to the group to Thomas’ mom. Newt lent forward as he spoke, heart racing, feeling more and more worried for Thomas’ sake. Thomas visibly shook as he spoke, this time not from the cold.

Newt felt a hurricane of emotions hit him as Thomas told his story. First was the shock. All his life, Newt had just assumed he was the only one with his power. Then he met Thomas, but even then, they still weren’t sure if he truly did have powers or not. But now that he knew, Newt didn’t know what to think.

Then came the anger. It crashed over Newt like a wave, and he knew that somewhere around them something was swinging violently in the air. He was angry at them for accusing his mom like that, and wanting him to help them. But mostly, he was angry at the others for making Thomas did just like Minho did.

The thought of Minho made Newt feel a strange mixture of numb yet sad. He was sad that his friend kept having this happen to him, time and time again.

When Thomas ended, an uncomfortable silence settled upon the two. Newt was unable to put his thoughts together in a good enough way to comfort Thomas. Thomas just looked tired.

“I know it’s my fault for going there, and I know this is my fault and I’m annoying you at three am, but I just had-” Thomas was cut off by Newt, who had suddenly lunged over to wrap his arms around him, trying to let him know what he was trying to say without saying anything.

It was only when he felt a dampness in his shoulder that he realized Thomas was crying. His mind flashed back to the day they met, and how suddenly the roles were reversed. Newt ran his hands up and down his friends back, leaning his head into Thomas’ hair.

Something told Newt that this wasn’t normal, that he should back away, push Thomas away, do something to stop whatever this was. 

Needless to say, Newt ignored the voice.

Still in the hug, Newt spoke, wanting to help the still crying Thomas. “Tommy, I believe you. If you say she’s good, I’ll stand by you. You need to protect her, I’ll be there with you. So will Alby. You’re not alone either. Got that, you bloody idiot?”

All he got in response was a small hiccup.

Finally, Thomas finished, and pulled away, looking embarrassed. They still remained close, however strange this whole thing was. Finally after a while of silence, Thomas spoke up.

“Now seriously. Why wouldn’t you open the door.”

“Of course you remembered that,” Newt groaned.

“Yes, I did. Now, speak.” Newt took a final look at his friend determined face, and, eyes closed, told him about Minho. Newt refused to look up even after he was done, scared of what he would find. Scared that Tommy would start to see him as the monster he was.

Instead, all he got was a smile. “And this is why you’re my best friend.”

“I’m you’re only friend.”

“Shut up and take the compliment.”

Neither of them noticed that they were being spied on, for by the time they looked in his direction, he was miles away.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------  
“Minho. What did you do?”

“I just told you. Brenda, this is good. This means I’m not alone. This is-”

“This is not good Min!”

Minho sighed, feeling like his head was ripping apart. “Brenda, listen to me. I. am. not. alone. There are others, others like me. And they hate Ava Paige. Like me. And-”

“Why would you hate her! I swear, ever since you met Thomas-”

“Bren, don’t.”

“You haven’t cared about reality. Minho, you were a jerk to Thomas, then you go a spy on him and his freaking boyfriend-”

“Friend.”

“And know you’re agreeing that she is a bad person and needs to be locked up, leaving Thomas alone! Are you even listening to yourself?! You’re not, are you? Like you’d even care! You’ve changed Minho.”

“Think very carefully about what you say next. Very. Carefully.” 

The air had dropped about ten degrees. Brenda and Minho glared at each other venomously. In all the time they had known each other, they had never fought. Not like this.

Minho hated it.

“If there are sides in this, whatever this is, I’m on Thomas’ side. Newt’s side, whatever. You’re not the boy I grew up with. He would of cared. He would of just shoved the cat in my face and started another prank. You don’t care! You’re not my friend! You don’t care!”

‘Don’t talk to me until you’re ready to accept that.’

‘Stay away from my son, or I tell them all.’

‘You know he’s been messed up ever since what you did? What was it, a game?’

‘You don’t care.’

Within seconds, both Brenda and the cat were miles away, with only a note telling her to stay out of his life.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------

The group had been a mess ever since their last chance of hope broke.

Gally had watched Ben grow bitter, snapping at anyone who spoke to him. Sonya and Harriet barely spoke to each other, nor did they use their powers. As for Gally, the school needed some serious renovations.

Which no one questioned of course. No one had to. Their final chance had been so close, yet now was impossible to reach. Now, they had no way of stopping Paige.

They were all grieving in their own ways.

Thomas had pretty much smashed any chance of hope. But deep down, Gally didn’t blame him; This was his mom they were threatening. So deep down, Gally didn’t blame him. Deep, deep, deep down.

They sat in silence, trying to just enjoy each others company. In the end, they all needed each other. They were like a family. You needed family.

Which made it harder to be mad at Thomas.

They sat around, not doing much. Ben read a comic, Sonya drew, Harriet juggled some balls of water, and Gally lifted the desk up and down in hope it would end his boredom.

Ben was the first to hear the knock. He walked over, everyone leaning forward, hopping it would be Thomas.

Instead, they got an Asian with a mischievous smirk. Gally recognized him from science. Minho. 

Minho waltzed right in as though this were completely normal, him being here. The four shared a look, silently debating who should politely ask the guy why the heck he was here and who he was anyway.

Sonya lost.

“Um, can we help you?”

“I doubt it, but I can probably help you. Wait, you are the supernatural freaks with the conspiracy theory, right?”

Gally stood up, already sick of the guy. “I think it’s time you get out. Right now. Go away.”

Minho smirked. “I’ll take that as a yes. I was just making sure. Well you probably are freaks but, well, normal is boring, ya know?”

“What do you want, and how do you know about us?” Ban looked a bit angry, but mostly curious, as though he wanted to see where this went.”

“Because of Thomas. Long story. But, I hear you guys need help? And that you hate Paige?”

“Yeah.” Harriet said it slowly, a look of confusion automatically overriding the annoyance previously there.

Suddenly, The papers in the room flew up in the air, and Minho was on top of the bookshelf, smirking down below them across the room, where he was all but a second before.

“Maybe I can help with that. I know for a fact Paige is up to something. We can stop her.”

Ben literally let out a whoop of joy, jumping up and down. Harriet tossed everyone a water bottle, having the remaining water dance around her. Sonya just smiled.

The school didn’t even question why they suddenly had a new library desk.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The ruins contained nothing but the feeling of a twisted, ruined cause. She hated being here, for it reminded her of when Janson had overtook the company, using his twisted experiment on kids.

She remembered the death that had been caused, how only eight remained alive. She looked back to where she found the kids, almost dead, believing they would be fine.

Now she knew that was a lie.

Ava Paige knew this was all just part of the disease. It had to be. And she wasn’t going to let them get Thomas. It was her job to save him, and if it came to it, she would die for the boy.

But that didn’t mean she would kill the ones already showing signs.

Ava was many things, but she wasn’t a murderer. But she wasn’t just going to sit by and let Thomas and them die. She couldn’t.

She looked over to see a small bracelet on the ground, saying W.C.K.D., the I and E having been faded off. She smiled when she remembered sending the children to new homes, making sure they would be far away from each other, but have good homes. No one knew it was her that sent the kids away, but she had to get those kids to safety. Her son to safety.

She stood up and started gathering what she needed to put her plan into action.

Because, just like then, she wasn’t going to let any of these kids die.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, so I know that this chapter was long. It didn't start out that way but, well... I guess it works out. I won't be updating next weekend because of band stuff, so I hope this makes up for it. 
> 
> But if anyone is confused about what is going on, everyone is getting a different version of what happened with the flare, and what will happen. It will be explained later. But yeah. I have no Idea how much longer this fic will go on, it could be a few chapters, or it could be ten more who knows. But if you have anything to say, either leave a comment or ask me on my tumblr, flaresintheair. 
> 
> Yeah, but I how you liked this, and so on.


	13. Chapter 13

She knew what she was doing was wrong. She new she should never of come here, but she needed to know what was going on. She needed to see for herself if her now ex- best friend had been telling the truth.

That didn’t mean she was prepared to almost die.

When she had first arrived, all she saw was an empty room, seemingly normal despite what she knew what was about to happen.

Eventually, a brown haired boy arrived, looking nervous, as though he were expecting a trap. Thomas.

He paced back and forth a bit, talking under his breath. At some point, he stopped, eyes looked on the door. He tensed up, as though his attacker had just waltzed through the door.

“Tommy? Why do you look like you are being watched by a bloody stalker of something?”

She almost laughed.

Thomas visibly relaxed, smiling a bit before sitting down. He was shortly followed by a blond haired teen, who looked to be around a year older that him. They sat in silence that might of been comfortable to them, but only put her on edge.

About five minutes of silence later, a dark skinned teen walked in, smiling at the two, mostly to the blonde, whom she had guessed was Newt. He sat in front of the two others and they immediately began conversation.

She got sucked into their story, learning what she could. What she heard only made her more certain about what she thought about Paige. There was more to her than Minho had given her credit for.

“The question is what we do know. I mean, we’ve agreed that my mom’s not a crazed scientist, correct?” The two others nodded.

“Then we have to stop them.”

“Wait, but I thought you said they couldn’t prove anything without you.”

“Alby, there’s always other solutions to a problem. They could find something.”

“Tommy’s right. I say we go and see for our-”

She had grown so engrossed to their conversation that she had missed the creaking sounds above her. She looked up just in time to see the ceiling directly above her give way.

She let out a small scream before closing her eyes, preparing for the impact. She heard hurried footsteps, shouting and felt the first bits of impact hit her head. 

She opened her eyes when the impacted stopped, only to see the rest of the ceiling stopped above her. It wasn’t until she felt one of the guys, most likely Alby, pull her away that she realized time hadn’t stopped.

Gravity did.

She could feel blood slowly seep down her face from a wound on her forehead, and saw black spots in her vision. She distantly heard an accented voice ask something along the lines of what was going on.

“My name’s Brenda. I have a few things you might want to know concerning the case of The Ava Paige and Minho.”

Everything turned black.

\----------------------------------------------------------  
“Alright, so is everything set? Good, then let’s get started.”

“Wait what’s going on again?”

“Minho!”

“I’m kidding, I’m kidding- well, I guess we needed a new board anyway. Chalkboards are getting out of date.”

Gally rolled his eyes, which only caused Harriet to laugh. Ever since Minho had joined to crew, they all seemed to have a new yet familiar air of happiness around them. Even Gally was happier, even if he hid that through breaking even more things that usual.

But all of this was just a bonus when it came down to it.

For now, they were going to find the way to stop Paige.

They had rigged a camera up to Minho, who would proceed to rush Ben over to wherever it was Paige was. Ben would do his thing and use the new information to gather evidence they could safely use without their own abilities.

After this, Gally would use his super strength to capture Paige while Harriet and Sonya would create some type of liquid prison for her until she could get the true punishment she deserved.

Minho and Ben had been gone only seven minutes when they came back, each looking pale.

“Well?” Harriet leaned forward, anticipation killing her. “Did you find her?”

Minho nodded, but he did so stiffly, while Ben looked frozen, a look close to panic on his face.

“Alright. What else did you two find? What was she doing? Where was she? Will it help us or hurt us?”

“Hurt.” They all jumped a bit by the sound of Ben’s almost silent voice.

Minho continued. “We found her alright. At the old facility, right where she experimented on us. She was collecting stuff then made a call before she left. We didn’t hear much but one thing was clear.”

“What Minho.” They turned to face Sonya, who had been silent till then, but now had shrunk into Harriet. Harriet allowed it, hoping more than anything that her friend would be safe. “What did you dear?”

“‘By the time this is through, nothing concerning these powers will be here any longer.’” Minho looked up, a grave look on his face.

“She said she’s going to exterminate the flare.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I know this chapter was kinda (read very) short, but things are about to happen. The next chapter should make up for this one, but everything's about to change. I am sorry, I'm not proud of this chapter, next one will be better.


	14. Chapter 14

The sight of the unconscious girl put a damper to their previously good mood.

The girl, Brenda, lied on the couch the three boys had previously been sitting on, in a state of non-being. While they had no reason to trust the girl, as of now she didn’t exactly pose a threat.

Thomas had left soon after they found her, claiming it was to check up on his mom. Alby and Newt sat around the girl, staring at her while a thick silence blanketed over them.

It was around thirty minutes after Thomas left that the silence was finally broken.

“So do you think that we can trust her? That maybe she’s being truthful? Or do you think it’s just a lie to get us going in the other direction?”

Newt jumped slightly, Alby’s comment shaking him out of his thoughts. “Well, I don’t know. Like, I’ve seen her around school and Tommy said that Minho mentioned her. You know, before they stopped talking and all.”

“This is insane.”

“You’re telling me? Last time I checked, I was the freak with bloody superpowers. Not you.” Alby sat up straight then, a serious look crossing his face. Newt just sat back, sighing as he realized this was most likely leading them into yet another argument.

“You’re not a freak. You know that, right?” Newt just laughed and gave a shrug.

“Alby, look at me. I jumped of a bridge at age ten, can defy gravity, and am now part of some conspiracy thing. Not to mention I’m friends with you. I’m the walking definition of a freak.”

“Alright, first of all, that hurt.”

“Can’t change reality.”

“Shut up, I’m trying to be a good friend here, so shut your mouth or I rip it off. Second of all, Thomas is practically a walking Edison. He can control minds, even if he won’t admit it, and is part of the conspiracy. Plus, is friends with me. You’re not the weird one.”

“Did you seriously just compare me to Tommy? That freak? Are you inferring he’s normal?”

“You’re really going to say that about your boyfriend?” Newt let out an exasperated groan.

“He’s not my boyfriend.”

“Oh yeah, is that so? Since when did you use words such as interring? When you met Thomas. When did you start being an actual social, functioning human being?” Alby paused, considering his words. “A human being. When you meet Thomas. The nickname. The touchy feely ness between you to. The denial. Might as well be wearing a sign.”

“You know, I take back my apology about the bowling ball. I wish I had it with me right now.”

“Denial.”

“Shut up.” Newt looked down at his phone, seeing the time. Sighing, he stood up. “Hate to leave you here, but I gotta go. You gonna be good making sure she won’t leave? Cause I could stay-”

“Go. Be happy. We have a lot coming up, you need the rest.”

Newt smiled his thanks before turning and making his was to Thomas’.

He didn’t notice Brenda watching him as he made his way out.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------  
“You are insufferable. Do you have any idea of who I am to you? Of what I can do? Honestly, you are going to be the death of me. And of all the things that could be going down right now-”

“Minho, darling, why are you on the bookcase? Screaming at the cat. At one in the morning.”

Minho sat there, looking dumbstruck. “Uh, well um, you, uh, well you see-”

His mom shook her head, looking exasperated and just plain tired. “You know what, I really don’t care. In fact, I don’t care if that cat is actually a serial killer that is trying to kill you. What I care is that it’s one in the freaking morning, so keep your screams of agony quiet. And don’t bleed on the carpet, or I will kill you.”

Minho watched, unsurprised, as his mom marched back out of the room, muttering something about insufferable teenagers. Minho let out a smirk.

People always told him he acted a bit like his mom.

He went back to glaring at the cat. It had appeared again only a day after he dropped it in the middle of nowhere the week prior.

Yet there was still no sign of Brenda.

Minho didn’t have to wonder why he had woken up on the bookshelf. He had been dreaming of Brenda, from when he had first gotten the cat. She had been screaming at him that he was being ridiculous.

Minho had used his speed to launch him up the wall and onto the highest bookshelf, he and the cat out of reach. He remembered how they had just broken into fits of laughter at the end before spending the rest of the day just relaxing.

Minho really wanted that feeling back.

He hadn’t realized that at some point he had picked up Griever, for now the cat was in his arms. 

“Life’s unfair, you know. This is all your fault.” Minho looked down to see the cat staring back at him.

He swore it was judging him. 

“Stop staring at me like that. Stop!” Miho sighed before thinking back to Brenda, Thomas, Newt, all the people whose lives Ava Paige had screwed over.

“Maybe this will fix itself once we fix this.” Minho looked down once more. “Stop freaking staring at me!”

“Min, stop screaming at the stupid cat and shut up!”

“My stupid cat!”

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------  
The science classroom was practically empty, for it was after school hours. While the rest of the school laid unoccupied, in the corner of the lab sat the two friends, messing with the sink and different liquids, creating miniature explosions midair.

“I’ve missed doing this. You know, just the two of us.”

“Yeah, it’s nice.” For some reason, Harriet didn’t exactly seem happy. Sonya looked over to see a look of sadness on her friends face.

“What’s wrong? This isn’t about the whole ‘Ava Paige is an evil psychopath trying to kill us while we're just sitting ducks’ thing again, is it?” 

All she got in response was absolute silence.

Sonya sighed and turned her focus to the swirling of the multi colored liquids in front of them. They sat in silence, messing with the liquids, causing steam to start to surround them.

After around ten minutes of silence, Harriet was ready to speak once more.

¨I just have no idea of what we are going to do, you know? It´s just, I feel like Iḿ responsible. I dragged you in, causing you to drag Gally in, causing him to drag Ben in, causing us to attempt to drag Thomas in, causing us to drag Minho in. If it wasn't for me exposing your powers, you wouldn't be in this mess.¨

¨To be fair, we didn't drag Minho in. He dragged himself in.¨ 

Sonya practically felt the eyeroll.

¨Oh come on Harriet! We will all be fine. I promise, we will be fine. I swear on Gally´s life. Now what do you say?¨

Silence.

¨Harriet?¨

More silence.

¨I know you can hear me. Harriet.¨

If she had turned around she would have seen the evil smirk slowly spread across her friend's face as the liquid begin to change its direction.

¨Oh come on Har- oh no.¨ Sonya cut herself off with a surprised yelp as the liquid hit her like a wall, knocking her off the counter.

She couldn't even begin to bring herself to anger seeing as it got her friend to let out a laugh.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------  
¨You know, the school has been getting a lot of renovations lately.¨

¨Yeah, wonder why.¨

¨Me two. I asked Mr. Jans, but he didn't know either.¨

¨Probably just the school being weird again.¨

At moments like these, it was all Gally could do to not laugh. There was no way the school would care that much about renovations. Every chair, chalkboard, vial, textbook, door, cabinet, or whatever it was this time had been broken, replaced before anyone would notice.

Or, well, if they would notice. Gally was starting to doubt it. This school was worryingly oblivious.

Gally knew that only seven people besides him knew there was more going on than what met the eye. 

First, was the group. He knew that they wouldn't dare say a word about his powers, not only because they had powers too (with the exception of Ben), but by the fact that they were often the ones helping him with the renovations.

Sonya, Harriet, Ben and Minho were four people he knew he could trust with his life. They were also four of the people that knew.

Then there was Ava Paige. Something told him that while she hadn´t confronted him like she had Minho, that there was someway that she knew he was one of the surviving subjects.

Then there was Thomas. He didn't know where they stood with Thomas, the boy having avoided them the past week. Based on their last encounter, he guessed it probably wasn’t good. He’d tried talking to the other boy, but the only time Gally ever saw him was in science, and Mr. Jans destroyed any attempt of contact.

So now, every day in science, Gally not only earned cold stares from Thomas, but also his friend. Gally assumed it was Newt, the guy that had attacked Minho a few weeks back. Based on the glares he got despite never having talked to the boy, Gally guessed that Thomas had told him about the group, meaning Newt knew of his powers.

So only eight people in the world seemed to know of Gally’s powers. But only two people knew of the real secret that he’d been keeping.

“No, but seriously, what is going on with this school.”

“Who knows. Maybe it’s some secret conspiracy.”

“Or maybe it’s nothing and everyone is just creating a problem so they can play hero by figuring out this thing. Who cares.”

Only him and Paige knew that Gally was losing control of his powers.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------  
“Mom? You here? I, uh, brought a friend over. If that’s alright. You here?”

Ava was snapped out of her thoughts by her sons voice. She let a small smile form on her face. The knowledge that her son even had a friend that he was close enough to bring over made made Ava happy. It was progress from the beginning of the year, when he was convinced he would never find someone that would accept him as a friend.

“Mom?”

“In here, Tom.”

She heard two sets footsteps, one confident, one hesitant. Soon, Thomas’ head popped around the doorway. He seemed to take her smile as a welcome, and began to make his way in. Ava couldn’t help but notice he was now alone, even though Thomas knew they would be allowed.

“So mom, this is Newt.” He suddenly frowned, seemingly realizing that he wasn’t there. “Just a minute.” Thomas turned and exited the room, shaking his head. Ava watched in humor as Thomas then proceeded to drag a blonde haired teen in by the hand, the other developing a confused look on his face.

Thomas then pushed the boy forward, murmuring something along the words ‘use your words and say hi, you idiot’. 

“Um, hi? My names, uh Newt. So you’re Tommy’s mom.” She gave a small laugh, automatically liking the boy’s awkwardness. 

“Hello Newt. It’s nice to finally meet you. I’ve heard lots,” she said giving a now blushing Thomas a pointed look. “Will you be staying for dinner?”

“He will.”

“I will?”

“You will. Now come on, I want to show you something.”

Thomas began to drag him out, Newt shouting “Nice to meet you, Ms. Paige!” over his shoulder.

Ava laughed at Thomas and his ‘friend’. Just five minutes of seeing the two boys and it was obvious there was something more there, or at least to everyone but the two. She got up to make dinner, pausing at the window when she saw them.

Thomas was on the ladder, why she didn’t know, when it fell. She let out a small scream, preparing to run out when ‘it’ happened. 

Suddenly, both Thomas and the latter stopped falling. Newt pulled Thomas out of the way and moved his hand, the ladder following its motion. Ava watched in shock and horror as the ladder slowly floated down.

But even with all that, the thing she was most scared of was the fact that Thomas didn’t even seem surprised.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am truly sorry for the wait. I went to right this last week only to find that my computers broken. Most of this was written during literature class, but I've also had an essay and band stuff so I have been busy. I hope this chapter was alright, if it was let me know.


	15. Chapter 15

‘Are you sure we are missing something here? Cause everything could be just fine and we could be overreacting. I mean, if there was something going on-’

“Alright, you need to shut up.”

“I’m being completely silent.”

‘So am I. Now, you brought up the whole idea of us not seeing the whole picture thing, so shut up, stop complaining, and get back to work.’

Aris sighed and rolled his eyes, but went back to research. He knew from experience an argument with Teresa was futile. More so for him seeing as they were not only together, but also the fact that she was in his head twenty-four seven lead to harsh fights. He decided it would be better to get back to work.

Ever since their conversation about the whole powers dilemma, Teresa had become convinced that there was something going on behind their backs. Aris, while he refused to admit it, did have to admit that there were some weird things going on.

The more the two had looked into everything, the more suspicious they became. First there were the little things such as the new students to the way certain people such as Brenda and Minho seemed to react to one another for unknown reasons.

And then there were the things that they could not believe no one had noticed such as exploding water fountains, impossible pranks, objects that didn’t fall quite as fast as they should, and that wasn’t even including the ever growing list of school renovations.

There was also the matter of the other few missing survivors of the flare. While she hadn’t said it out loud, Aris had a feeling Teresa believed some of their fellow peers were the ones they were looking for.

Aris wasn’t sure what to think.

‘Teresa, you sure about this? I’m sure there-’

“Oh my God. No, no no no no no- this can’t be- no!”

‘Teresa what-’

Teresa looked at him with large, frightened blue eyes. “This is really really bad. They think that- she’s planning on-”

“Teresa, come on, you’re freaking me out here.”  
‘Everything’s going to change.”

\-----------------------------------------------------------  
“I swear, I could deal with all the stuff about me being a freak and all that. I can take the stuff about how everyone, especially you, hates me. But you went over the line when you insulted them about the way they act. You’ve went. To. Far.”

“Oh, shut it Gally. Stop pitching a fit instead of dealing with the fact that they are all freaks and will never…”

Around then was when Gally started to zone out, red starting to overtake his senses. Sometimes Gally just wished to whack his head into oblivion when it came to the matter of Nick. Or better yet, go back to kindergarten and aim the desk at the guy instead of the wall, despite the consequences.

He could have ran. He would have been fine.

Or at least he wouldn’t be looking at the thing’s face.

Gally felt his anger rise, despite how much he’d been trying to push it down. He sensed more then felt the desk under where one of his hands rested; his other had at some point reached and grabbed Nick's shirt and had begun to raise the other, now frightened boy up into the air.

Gally tried to stop the cracking in the desk, tried to put the pest known as Nick down, tried to calm his ever growing anger. But as hard as he tried, Nick would not stop taunting, insulting Sonya, Harriet, Ben, Minho, the only people who accepted him, and he felt the last bit of clarity he had melt into red…

“Hello Gally. Now if you would please release Mr. Krank down, that would be simply fantastic. Thanks.”

Gally couldn’t really tell if he released him or if Nick just freed himself by sheer force of will. All he was able to register was the shock.

He leaned back to lean against the desk, only to stumble back and fall as he realized he had crushed it during his fit of rage.

He heard the clicking of high heels against the floor and saw her lean next to him.

“So I take it that you know who I am, would I be correct?” This time, Gally was the one to feel terror slowly clutch around his heart.

“Hello, Ms. Paige.”

\----------------------------------------------------------------------  
It was quiet without the usual fighting going on in the background.

For the first time since Sonya had approached Gally, Ben was working by himself. Harriet had decided that Sonya needed a break, so they were out for a ‘girls night’ (Ben had a feeling the town would be expecting some surprise flooding soon). Gally was who knows where, and Minho had been working with him not long before, but had left for a midnight snack run, which was taking longer than anything with the run in it should for someone with superspeed.

So that left Ben on his own.

Ever since they figured out about Ava and her plans for… whatever it was she was doing, they had all been insane. No matter how much they found out, there were just too many loose ends that kept them from learning the truth. 

Especially since the appearance of Minho.

Ben wasn’t going to tell the others of his suspicions, for it might make them distrust Minho. And while Ben thought Minho was kind of strange considering his strange sense of humor, he still trusted him, and wished him no harm.

He just wanted the full truth.

If they were right, Ava had infected them all, including her own son and now she was plotting his death. Yet when Minho re encountered his experience with her, she had said what she was doing now was to protect Thomas. It just wasn’t adding up.

Ben couldn’t figure out if it was just them missing something or if Minho was hiding something due to his hate for Paige. He had gone to pretty drastic lengths due to it, even ending his longterm friendship with Brenda, who trusted the woman in question.

Ben suddenly stopped researching long enough to feel his eyes bug out due to realization, and let out a groan as his head hit the keyboard.

“Dude, what’s with the face slam.” Ben barely even jumped at the sudden appearance of their local super speeder, both growing used to it and in much too great a shock to think too much of it.

“You are an idiot, no, I’m the idiot for not realizing it, but it was happening to you, you freaking idiot, why are we all idiots?” Ben knew he was rambling, but couldn’t bring himself to care.

“Not to ruin the whole angsty oh-my-god-we’re-all-idiots monologue thing you’ve got going on, but why am I an idiot? I swear, if you say it’s cause the cat, I will make you road kill.”

“What cat? Actually, don’t answer that I don’t want to know. Why exactly did your friend Brenda start hating you again?” Minho looked surprised, but then glared at Ben, knowing he just crossed a line. Ben glared back, and surprisingly won.

“I hate Paige, she’s the idiot and thought her innocent, I learned of Thomas the freak Einstein and his british superman boyfriend, and she screamed and I threw her out… into the middle of the desert. With the stupid cat, which if you call stupid, I will end you.”

“Alright, enough with the stup- stupendous cat. So she trusts Paige, knows information, and a few other people who trust Ava. What does she do?”

“We are so screwed.”

\------------------------------------------------------------------  
“So are you two dating yet?”

“Shut up.”

“Cause I would be cool if you were.”

“Alby, shut up.”

“Like, more than cool. I mean, when I first met ya, I could’ve sworn you were together.”

“Alby, stop speaking or I will rip out your vocal cords in a manner that you will live shut up for the rest of your existence, which will also shorten if you don’t shut. Up.”

“And that temper. You with the mad scientist thing and him and the bowling balls. I can see why he’s taken a liking towards you.”

“Shut- you know what, no. You are only looking for a response so statistics show if I deprive you of one you shall cease this behavior, so therefor, I shall be the one to shut up.”

“...I didn’t hear a no.”

At this point, Thomas was ready to scream. Since they had gotten the information from Brenda that there was a group of superbeings against his mom, the four had been working long hours to ensure Ava Paige’s safety.

That lead him to ‘working’ with Alby, who really had taken a liking to the idea of Thomas and Newt being together.

Thomas blocked out Alby’s completely ridiculous rambling about how Newt and him were secretly in love. Which was completely and utterly ridiculous. This was not about chemicals in the brain leading to two beings doing… whatever it was people did. With his intelligence, Thomas had always found it better to spend his time learning than socializing.

That was, until he met the suicidal boy who made bricks fly and was helping him in an insane conspiracy theory surrounding his mom. The thing he and Alby were supposed to be working to save. Not contemplating her son’s nonexistent love life.

“I mean honestly, everyone sees it. So why don’t you two just go an-”

“Alby, shut up, shut up now, I really need you to shut. The hell. Up.” Alby suddenly went quiet, but Thomas didn’t take much notice, instead listening to the heels clicking down the hallway. He and Alby sucked in their breath, knowing that they did not want Ava to know what they were doing.

“Yes, yes I know to your knowledge this all seems incredibly overwhelming and borderline insane, but you need to trust me.” It sounded like she was on the phone. “Yes, I know this flare seems outrageous, but-”

Alby looked over to Thomas, frantically mouthing ‘surely she just means solar flares or somethin, right?’

“I know.” She sounded almost defeated. “But when I signed up to work for them, all I knew was true, at least until Janson came and destroyed it. But W.I.C.K.E.D. was good.”

Then, the voice went silent.

Then, Alby was gone, to where Thomas didn’t know.

Because then, Thomas felt his world shatter.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------

“Yes, yes I know to your knowledge this all seems overwhelming and borderline insane, but you need to trust me.” 

“But Ms. Paige, I do not mean to appear rude or to impose, but are you sure you have proper jurisdiction for this? I mean, the flare was quite a tragedy and I know you worked there, but what business do you have that could possibly deal with this?”

“I know this flare thing seems outrageous, but-”

Ava sighed as the young intern began to ramble on about the incident, on and on about how it was all W.I.C.K.E.D.’s fault and so on. She really just needed an address to get the supplies she needed, and quick. 

After all, she now knew Thomas was in more trouble than ever before.

“I just don’t get how someone like you could have worked for them.”

“I know. But when I signed up to work for them, all I knew was true, at least until Janson came and destroyed it. W.I.C.K.E.D. was good,” she said, exiting her house.

By the time the call ended, she had finally reached the school, prepared and not at all ready to learn about Newt, the strange boy Thomas brought home not long ago.

The boy who could defy gravity, who had clearly been infected by the flare.

She walked down the hall, heading to the desired principal's office when she heard it. The angered shouts and the sound of breaking wood. She took off, reaching the classroom in record time.

She was met with the sight of two teen aged males, one frighted and in the air, the other threatening to break him right after he finished on the desk. It didn’t take long to identify the kid's, mind flashing back to when she was but a kindergarten teacher in over her head.

As Ava once more stepped forward to settle the fight, or more to be murder of Nick Krank, her heart sank, knowing her worst fears were coming true.

They were already losing control of their powers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Between a broken computer, midterms, tests, projects, a concert, and holiday preparations, I haven't exactly had time and/or energy to right. So thanks for reading this, if you still are. This story has at most five chapters left, so yeah. Please let me know what you thought, and happy holidays (if you celebrate them)!


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, um... hi... 
> 
>  
> 
> Please don't kill me.

None of this was right. 

There was absolutely no way that any of this could be right.

“Surely we missed something, right? I mean, we only heard half the conversation. Maybe she was talking about something different. I mean, why would she of worked for them? She’s a teacher, not a mass murder. There’s no way that Minho and them are right. Maybe we just-”

“Tommy, just calm-”

Thomas whirled around to face his friend, who quickly quieted upon seeing the look of crazed anger evident upon his face. Thomas tried to calm himself, not wanting to blow up on Newt. It had only been an hour or two since he and Alby overheard the phone call, so his feelings had yet to calm from the fresh sting of betrayal.

“Calm down? Did you just seriously tell me to calm down? Those people out there, the ones we have been so sure were wrong about this this entire time, they might be right! We could all be in danger, we probably were since the start! And you’re telling me to calm down! What are you, stupid?”

“Thomas!” He was startled by the use of his actual name. “I’m not a freakin’ idiot, but if I didn’t know you better I’d be saying you were one! Just sit down.”

Thomas went to do just that, but it was more like falling down next to Newt, the energy having suddenly drained from him. “I’m sorry it’s just, that’s my mom. The woman who I’ve known, or, well, thought I knew since I was born. And she’s trying to kill me.”

“We don’t know that for sure.”

“But don’t we? Honestly, what proof do we have that she’s actually innocent? None! So why bother? Might as well just prepare for the inevitable. I mean that’s what always happens to the freaks! And we’re the freaks!” 

Thomas, anger once more flowing through his veins, stood abruptly as though to storm out. He only made two steps before he felt the hand on his wrist. He let out a startled noise when Newt pulled him down, hand wrapped around his own in a deadly grip that Thomas had no hope in escaping.

“Tommy, you idiot- just listen to me! Yes we are freaks-”

“Wow, Newt, that just made me feel so much better.”

Newt ignored him. “We may be freaks, but seriously? The freaks always die? What kinda stories have you been reading? I’m supposed to be the one thinking like that, not you. What happened to you believing in your mom? Sure, we don’t know the whole story. But that doesn’t make them right. Because they don’t either. They don’t know the good in your mom, we don’t know the bad, and she doesn’t know the whole story about us. The only thing that we know, is we have to get through this. And to do that, we need you, alright. What’s the worst that could happen?”

‘We could all die.’ One look at Newt’s face made him think twice about voicing his statement. 

“I know, it’s just… I just feel like I have to save everyone, you know? But to do that, I need the right choice. What if this isn’t the right choice?”

“Then bloody hell, we’ll make it the right choice.”

“What if I think that Gally and them are the right choice?”

“Then we’ll make that choice.”

After that they sat in silence, neither boy commenting on the fact Newt had not let go of Thomas.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

‘Everything is going to change.’

Teresa felt like the air had been kicked out of her lungs and they would no longer let more enter. The discovery of what was going on had been sudden and brutal, the truth terrifying. After explaining to Aris what was happening she had called the only person who could possibly help.

“Teresa, you better have a good reason as to why you called me to school when it’s three am on Saturday night.”

Teresa turned to face Brenda, relieved that she actually showed up. Brenda looked angry, but mostly tired.

“We need to talk about Minho.” Brenda glared at her, tensing up

“Did you honestly just call me over just to talk about him. Why in the world would you ever think I would want to talk about him?” Before Teresa could ever possibly answer, Brenda turned and began to get back in her car.

Teresa look at Brenda with pleading eyes. “Bren, this is serious. Did Minho ever say anything about joining the group against Ava Paige?”

Brenda stopped walking and slowly turned to face Teresa. Teresa waved a hand causing Brenda’s car door to slam closed. Brenda looked in between Teresa and the car with wide eyes and an expression of fear on her face.

“You know about it, don’t you? About the flare and at least a bit about Ava Paige.”

“I know that she’s innocent. How do you know about this? Do you…”

Teresa sighed before making the car move away from her friend. Brenda slid down to the ground, staring at her hands. Teresa walked a bit closer to her before crouching down in front of her.

“Did Minho join the group or not?” Brenda slowly nodded, sadness briefly crossing her face. “What do you know about the group and Ava Paige?”

Brenda slowly started to talk about Paige, Minho, and Thomas. Teresa felt her heart sink as her fears were confirmed one after another.

“What does any of this matter? We don’t even talk anymore.”

“It matters because an innocent woman is being accused of murder. Because Minho, he has superspeed, right?” Brenda nodded. “If this keeps up, he won’t anymore. And Ava Paige will be hunted down for trying to protect those she cares for, including her own son. I need you to tell me everything you know about the two groups. Don’t leave anything out.”

With that, Brenda began to reveal everything she knew, Teresa hanging on to every word. When she finally finished, she looked up.

“What can we do to stop this? Whatever this is.” Teresa stood up and offered Brenda her hand.

“Aris is going to talk some sense into Paige. We need to talk some sense into the others. I’ll explain everything on the way.”

“As long as there isn’t the stupid cat involved,” Brenda said, closing the door. “I’m in.”

Then they began driving right into the chaos.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Minho felt like an idiot.

He couldn’t believe that he’d never even considered what Brenda had done after he dropped her in the middle of nowhere. Now not only did he have Thomas mad at him and Newt out for blood, but now Brenda was working against him and for the enemy. And it was all his fault.

Ever since Ben’s discovery, they had been working nonstop. They’d started working at Minho’s house so no one could interrupt them and they could work in the dead of night. So far all they’d gotten were dead ends and more questions.

Sonya looked up from her phone and threw it onto the couch in frustration. Harriet jumped up in surprise, looking over at her friend.

“Sonya, what-”

“There is nothing else we can do! Nothing else we can learn like this! Nothing we can do to stop it! To stop her.”

Ben looked over at Sonya with tired eyes. “Sonya, what are you talking about?” Sonya looked at him as though he were stupid, and Minho had to physically prevent himself from laughing as Ben shrunk into the couch in fear. Sonya turned her attention back to Harriet.

“We have made no progress since we learned about Brenda, and other than that we’ve had next to nothing! The only way we could possibly ever have a chance is-”

“No. Don’t even say it, there is no way that is happening.” Sonya looked down when she heard the anger in Minho’s voice, likely not realizing the anger was mostly directed towards himself. He knew who Sonya was talking about and that there was no way they would ever get him to join their side. Especially now that Minho was part of the team.

They sat in silence, the only sound being the soft padding of paws. Minho looked over to see Griever pacing by the door, and he automatically stood up. As soon as he left his seat the doorbell rang and the cat ran away, clawing Minho’s barefoot in the process.

“You shucking little piece of-” Minho felt his words catch in his throat when he saw who was at the door, momentarily forgetting about his foot. He stared in astonishment as the person awkwardly stood there, his arm nervously twitching by his side. “Thomas.”

“The other members of your group are here, correct?” Minho nodded. He felt the others stare at him curiously, trying to see who the newcomer was. “I um, I know you joined them. Brenda told us everything.” 

Minho groaned and shook his head, his fears proved true. “Look, not that I’m not glad you’ve stopped ignoring me, but why are you here. If it’s to stop us because of your mom, then-”

“You were right.”

Minho looked at him, dumbfounded. “Wait, did you, Thomas Green, just say I was right. Somebody write the date down, this day will forever be known as the day I outsmarted freaking Einstein.”

Ben almost fell of the couch during his frantic attempt to stand up. “Did you just say Thomas?”

The others were by him in a second, all asking questions at once. Minho forced Thomas into the room, cursing every now and then due to his foot. When he finally got the others to calm down Thomas began to explain what had happened with his mom. They hung onto every word, desperate for information. 

“So,” said Harriet. “Are you and your group… joining us?”

Thomas shrugged, looking down. “I am, and Newt already said if that's what I thought was right he would. Alby most likely will but the chances of Brenda joining are incredibly low.” Minho nodded, looking down in guilt. The others began talking excitedly, ignoring Thomas for the moment. Minho looked up, realizing what Thomas joining meant.

“Thomas. Dude, look at me.”

“Minho, don’t. This doesn’t make up for it.”

“Look, I’m sorry about forgetting about the conversation that we apparently had.”

“That’s not it.” Minho looked up in confusion to see Thomas had finally made Eye contact. “It’s a long story, but that one is not on you. I’ll tell you all later, I’m still trying to wrap my whole mind around the idea of having powers.” Thomas ignored Minho’s look of interest. “You just left. For no reason. That’s what I’m mad about.”

Thomas stood up and began to walk away ignoring Minho’s pleas for attention. He sped over, laughing when Thomas almost fell back in surprise.

“Brenda told you about that, right?” Thomas slowly shook his head, wide eyed. “Great, of course she didn’t. It’s alright only she knew… along with your mom.”

“What?”

“She told me if I didn’t walk away she would tell everyone. And I can not let some Scientist get his hands on the awesomeness that is me.” Thomas rolled his eyes, still looking worried. “Believe me, if I had had another choice, I would have taken it. But I didn’t so I did it.”

Thomas sat back down. “I can’t believe her. Know anything that could make this all better.” Thomas jumped once again once again when Minho sped off, returning only a second later with a cup of water, a throbbing foot, and a very angry cat. He held out his arms, practically throwing the cat at him.

“The cat is the answer to all problems. Take the cat wisely.” Thomas actually laughed, giving Minho hope things would soon go uphill for their little group. Then he felt Sonya place a hand on his arm.

“Where is Gally?”

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ava Paige held the serum in her hands, her subject looking at her in fear.

“What do you want with me?” His hands were still trembling with rage, the remnants of the desk surrounding his feat. Ava hoped she had enough time to save him.

“I know you’re worried Gally, but I’m doing this for you. You’re powers are glitching, correct?” He reluctantly nodded, eyes locked on the ground. “That’s the second sign. You’re very lucky to have survived this long, Gally, but if you don’t allow me to stop the flare-”

“I’m not letting you kill me!” Gally stood and threw the nearest desk into a wall. Ava couldn’t help but remember when he pulled that same stunt all those years ago.

“You honestly think this is the point of this? I want to help you Gally. You know something is wrong, that you’re power is out of control. Let me save you.”

Gally let out a loud breath before nodding quickly and shutting his eyes. Ava injected the serum quickly, before he once more decided the poison was meant to kill him.

She really hopped he was wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I CAN (KIND OF) EXPLAIN! So I know it's been half a year since the last update, which is way too long. Even for me. At first it was just writers block, then it was concerts and exams and papers and the other stuff I am writing, and that's not even iincluding the familly stuff. The I just had no idea where to go next with this fic and well... yeah. I will not only be making it my top priority to finish this but I will also be going through and editing this seeing as I am horrible about editing and have made many mistakes so... yeah. Once again I can not stress how bad I feel about the amout of time this took but thank you to anyone still reading this or reading for the first time. Yeah... Please don't kill me.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't even know how I got this idea. Please comment if you liked and I'll try to update soon.


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